From the bestselling author of The Land Girls comes a beautifully realised novel that speaks to the true history and real experiences of post-war Australian women. Sydney 1945 The war is over, the fight begins.The war is over and so are the jobs (and freedoms) of tens of thousands of Australian women. The armaments factories are making washing machines instead of bullets and war correspondent … Tilly Galloway has hung up her uniform and been forced to work on the women’s pages of her newspaper – the only job available to her – where she struggles to write advice on fashion and make-up. As Sydney swells with returning servicemen and the city bustles back to post-war life, Tilly finds her world is anything but normal. As she desperately waits for word of her prisoner-of-war husband, she begins to research stories about the lives of the underpaid and overworked women who live in her own city. Those whose war service has been overlooked; the freedom and independence of their war lives lost to them.Meanwhile Tilly’s waterside worker father is on strike, and her best friend Mary is struggling to cope with the stranger her own husband has become since being liberated from Changi a broken man. As strikes rip the country apart and the news from abroad causes despair, matters build to a heart-rending crescendo. Tilly realises that for her the war may have ended, but the fight is just beginning…PRAISE’A richly crafted novel that graphically depicts life during those harrowing years. A touching tale and an enthralling read.’ Reader’s Digest’A powerful and moving book.’ Canberra Weekly
more
This books starts on VP day in Sydney the end of the war in the pacific and the Sydney streets come alive with rejoicing, happiness and tears of joy, the men will be coming home those that survived but a lot of them will be different to what they were. Tilly Galloway is a journalist working for a Sydney newspaper and she has been covering the war but that is all about to change for Tilly.
Tilly has been put back on the women’s pages at the paper because the men are back and she really struggles with fashion and the exclusive parties she is better than that and is pushing to change this. Tilly is also waiting on news of her husband Archie a prisoner-of-war and as time goes by she is more convinced that he will not be coming home, but there is always hope. Tilly is taking in the changes and seeing the woman who stepped up to help during the war sent back to their homes and kitchens, life has changed so much for everyone.
Tilly is good friends with fellow journalist and war correspondent Georg Cooper and he is helping with the search for Archie, he also knows what a great journalist Tilly is and is there for her, encouraging her to keep going, Tilly’s father is a waterside worker and they are on strike and Tilly’s flat mate Mary is really struggling with her husband Bert who came home a totally different man after being in Changi Prison. Australia is changing everything is being turned upside down, but strength and courage will keep everyone going.
I loved this story from page one, I fell into the dancing in the street and didn’t want to put it down, I loved Tilly so much woman really had a hard time back in these days but Tilly showed strength to keep going and stand up for what she thought was right, this one is an emotional and poignant story one that I highly recommend, Victoria Purman is a fabulous author, it is beautifully written with so much love and caring, don’t miss this one.
1 like
An engrossing story of women’s lives in Melbourne during World War II and the anguish and uncertainty they face trying to live “normal” lives while waiting for news of their men fighting overseas. The Women’s Pages focuses on Tilly Galloway, a young secretary-turned journalist, hastily married before her high school sweetheart ships out to shores unknown.
While he fights in Pacific jungles, wartime offers her the chance of a lifetime. – to become a news reporter. She is made very aware this is only because the lack of male manpower – many of the men are away fighting. Her’s is a “Girl From Wrong Side of Tracks Makes Good” story. Her working class background, her identity as a “Commie water sider’s daughter” and her gender all make for a hard slog in the male dominated world of the newsroom, but she prevails and finds success and a new identity, while part of her is always hanging on for word of her husband Archie.
When the War is over will she have to give up her job and go back to being the “little wife” – and how will she feel about that?
Her fears and doubts for Archie’s well being escalate when she learns officially that he’s a Japanese Prisoner of War. No spoilers here, but the situation for such women is sensitively and keenly portrayed.
A cast of “secondary” characters – Tilly’s close friend and flatmate Mary – who is breathlessly waiting the chance to be the little woman at home when (if) her husband returns , as well as other women in Tilly’s orbit – her mother, faced with always having to “pick up the pieces” after the latest family drama and sister, left to raise three children alone while her husband is away – – all are beautifully portrayed.
Needless to say when Peacetime comes, it’s nothing like any of them have imagined, and they all have to make adjustments of dreams and lives to be able to continue.
The anguish of the marriages where the men do return home, but are so damaged by their experiences they are no the same men as the ones who went to war, and the hurt of husbands who get back home safely but then desert their families – are also sensitively portrayed.
The Women’s Pages shines the light on the women who stayed at home, and fought and suffered and sacrificed for their country in so many ways that went unnoticed when the the euphoria of the war’s end swept the nation and men resumed their “rightful place” on the domestic front..
A well plotted, beautifully expressed historical novel that gives voice to the fifty per cent of the population who weren’t proclaimed as heroes when the war ended. The story is backed by impressive research which gives it all a strong historical foundation.
There will be new things readers to learn and new topics for reflection, even for those who think they know their Second World War history well. Warmly recommended.
ARC received from Harper Collins Australia for an honest review
The Women’s Pages is another wonderfully written and inspiring story from Victoria Purman.
I am loving reading more Australian historical fiction these days, and Ms Purman’s stories are some that I will always read.
Set in Sydney at the end of WW2, we are taken on the journey with Tilly, her best friend Mary and their families as the men come home and the women are again relegated to the life of baby making and cooking for their man (ugh, I don’t think I would have survived back then lol).
Tilly is ahead of her time really, with her career in journalism being curtailed by the fact she didn’t have a penis. She fought for every chance that was just thrown in the laps of the good ol’ boys.
The hope and the heartache of war time is a huge part of this tale, and I turned each page, holding my breath for what was going to happen next.
Ms Purman has painted a vivid picture of war time Sydney, and had me thinking about what my grandparents went through in the early days of their marriage. I love reading a story that draws me right in like that.
I loved where Tilly’s story ended up, and smiled at something I was hoping for the whole time I was reading.
Beautiful writing, enthralling story, I hope to read more from Ms Purman in the future