“The book I most often give as a gift to cheer people up.” –Hilary Mantel “Tart, beguiling, witty and compassionate, Madeleine St. John’s novel is a literary boost for the spirits.” –Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air “A deceptively smart comic gem.” -The New York Times Book Review “Witty and delicious.” -People The women in black, so named for the black frocks they wear while working at Goode’s … The women in black, so named for the black frocks they wear while working at Goode’s department store, are busy selling ladies’ dresses during the holiday rush. But they somehow find time to pursue other goals…
Patty, in her mid-thirties, has been working at Goode’s for years. Her husband, Frank, eats a steak for dinner every night, watches a few minutes of TV, and then turns in. Patty yearns for a baby, but Frank is always too tired for that kind of thing.
Sweet, unlucky Fay wants to settle down with a nice man, but somehow nice men don’t see her as marriage material.
Glamorous Magda runs the high-end gowns department. A Slovenian émigré, Magda is cultured and continental and hopes to open her own boutique one day.
Lisa, a clever and shy teenager, takes a job at Goode’s during her school break. Lisa wants to go to university and dreams of becoming a poet, but her father objects to both notions.
By the time the last marked-down dress is sold, all of their lives will be forever changed.
A pitch-perfect comedy of manners set during a pivotal era, and perfect for fans of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Women in Black conjures the energy of a city on the cusp of change and is a testament to the timeless importance of female friendship.
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The Women in Black is a delightful book set at the end of the 1950s in the Ladies Cocktail Frocks section on the second floor of F G Goode’s Department Store in Sydney (loosely based on David Jones). The story centres around the lives of the black-frocked sales assistants working there – Patty, Mrs Williams, in her early thirties, married but childless; Fay, Miss Baines, at 29 afraid she had been left on the shelf; and Miss Jacobs, ‘stout and elderly’ and in charge of alterations. Further along from Ladies Cocktail Frocks is the Model Gown boutique, decorated with Louis XVI-style furniture and a chandelier, where gowns from London and Paris can be found with labels like Hartnell, Chanel and Dior. Model Gowns is run by elegant and sophisticated Magda Szombathelyi. Overseeing all is the floor manager, Mr Ryder, and the buyer, Miss Cartwright. At the beginning of a hot December, 17-year-old Lesley Miles, now calling herself Lisa, arrives to take up a temporary holiday job during the pre and post-Christmas rush when women from the ‘better class suburbs of Sydney’ descend on Goode’s to do their Christmas shopping and to acquire party frocks. Lisa is awaiting exam results and quietly nursing dreams of winning a Commonwealth Scholarship which will allow her to go to university.
The novel gives the reader glimpses of these women’s lives outside work. Patty is less than happy in her childless marriage to an inarticulate and seemingly insensitive man. Fay is bored and despairing of the endless line of self-absorbed Mr Wrongs her best friend lines up for her. Miss Jacobs has worked at Goode’s longer than anyone can remember yet has managed to keep her life completely private. Magda is the most content of the women; surrounded by friends, she enjoys a rich cultural life and has ambitions of setting up her own ‘extremely exclusive and exorbitantly expensive frock shop’. She is Slovenian and married to Stefan, a Hungarian man she met soon after arriving Australia; both were Displaced Persons following World War 2, ‘each had survived hell’. Lisa lives with her parents, her unassertive but doting mother and her self-centred father who is set against any daughter of his attending University. With school finished, Lisa senses that her ‘world is about to be transformed and her with it’. Magda sees in the thin schoolgirl someone she can have ‘the pleasure of instructing…in matters of cut, style, taste; Amies, Fath, Dior’. Lisa happily steps into this world of new possibilities.
The Women in Black captures perfectly Australia at this time, on the brink of the changes that the 1960s brought – the self-satisfied complacency of those without interest in the world beyond their own experience, the state of marriages and the unequal position of women within them married to men who were not bad but often lacking imagination and sensitivity. Broad vistas were about to open with tertiary education achievable for clever young men and women of the working class and an enriching of culture with the arrival of European migrants who had an entirely different experience of the world.
St John’s prose is unobtrusive, sharply observed and lightly humourous. Each of the major characters is honestly yet sympathetically portrayed. I had quite a few chuckles of recognition of the way we were, as Australia didn’t change overnight and some attitudes and behaviours lingered through the 1960s and into the ’70s. The Women in Black was published in 1993 yet it has captured the sunlight and hopefulness of that earlier period.
I read the Text edition of the book which has an Introduction by Bruce Beresford, the filmmaker who was a friend and contemporary of Madeleine St John, and an Obituary at the end. I generally leave any Introduction until I have fully read a book to avoid spoilers and to gain the most from the analysis. In this case, I am inclined to recommend avoiding both the Introduction and the Obituary altogether or else leaving them for a day or two. They add nothing to an understanding of the book and, for me at least, rather diminished the pleasant afterglow. The book stands wonderfully on its own without any knowledge of the author. The book has now been made into a film, Ladies in Black, directed by Beresford, and it absolutely does the book justice.
Quick, easy read that is a feel good book.
An unusual and unexpected story. Wasn’t too fond of the way it ended but it was a good read
Very witty and poignant book. An easy and enjoyable summer read about an interesting historical place and time. Very relatable characters.
Fun all round easy read.
The premise of this book sounds so simple – Four women working in the dress departments of a large department store. Yet, this book really grabbed me with its wonderful characters. And the descriptions made a department store from decades in the past come alive and seem relevant. I read this in one sitting. i had to know what happened next. And then I had to tell a couple of my friends to read it so we could talk about it. Definitely recommend!
Quirky, funny, and feminine. The clipped prose and original setting (1950’s Sydney) made for an engaging read.
A great book that takes place in the 50’s. I remember it well. Women had so much to deal with that was very different. A great read.
Well written – different story line – fun to read.
poorly written, predictable, not worth my time
Simple plot and characters.
I didn’t really care for this book. Too hard to get into the characters.
An interesting and satisfying read.
Good for an afternoon read
Not very original nor much character development for my taste
Very boring to start after a while it became humorous. I did finish reading the book. Not one that I would save to read again.
The characters had potential but the story went nowhere
This is my first read by this author, and I enjoyed it very much. I tried to explain to a friend what the story was about, but couldn’t quite find the words. Guess that’s why I’m not an author. Sweet story in simpler times.