Items related to The Women in Black
Synopsis
At F. G. Goode’s department store, the women in black are run off their feet, what with the Christmas rush and the summer sales that follow. But it’s Sydney in the 1950s, and there’s still just enough time left on a hot and frantic day to dream and scheme... By the time the last marked-down frock has been sold, most of the staff of the Ladies’ Cocktail section at F. G. Goode’s have been launched into slightly different careers. With the lightest touch and the most tender of comic instincts, Madeleine St John conjures a vanished summer of innocence. The Women in Black is a great audiobook, a lost Australian classic.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Madeleine St John was born in Sydney. She graduated from Sydney University in 1963 and lived in London for most of the succeeding years, until her death in 2006. The Women in Black is her first novel. She also wrote A Pure Clear Light (1996), The Essence of the Thing (1997), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Stairway to Paradise (1999).
Bruce Beresford is one of Australia’s best known film and opera directors. His films include The Getting of Wisdom, Driving Miss Daisy and Breaker Morant.
From Publishers Weekly
Although its title suggests mystery and allure, this wry debut instead focuses on the loneliness and ennui of three department store employees. These women, identically attired in black dresses that serve as uniforms, work in the Ladies' Frocks Department at Goode's, a store in Sydney, Australia. Each suffers from long-standing unhappiness revolving one way or another around the opposite sex: Patty is married to "a bastard of the standard-issue variety, neither cruel nor violent, merely insensitive and inarticulate"; Fay has tired of wild parties and longs to settle down with a decent man; Lisa--who keeps her given name, Lesley, secret from the Goode's set--is an intellectually brilliant but mousy teenager whose father believes that women shouldn't attend college. During the frenzied Christmas shopping season, each saleswoman indirectly confronts her problem and attains contentment. Meanwhile, a subplot concerning several glamorous Eastern European emigres adds a certain underground charm. St . John writes in a mannerly, witty style and in spite of her characters' stereotpyical girlishness (i.e., shallow infatuations with pretty "frocks" and "eligible bachelors"), an essentially lighthearted tone sustains this tale.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherBolinda Audio
- Publication date2012
- ISBN 10 1743181086
- ISBN 13 9781743181089
- BindingAudio CD
- LanguageEnglish
- Rating
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantIf you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!
Create a Want
