The 1950s were an exciting time in Sydney, Australia. World War II had recently ended, ushering in an era of hope and prosperity, along with immigrants looking to rebuild their lives. Traditional roles were slowly evolving, as many young women headed off to university instead of focusing on marriage and family. Madeleine St. John (The Essence of the Thing) illustrates these developments in a delightful and uplifting slice-of-life view of the changing social and economic climate by offering an in-depth look at the lives of several saleswomen in the Ladies' Frocks Department of Goode's Department Store, aka The Women in Black.
Magda, Patty, Fay and Lesley/Lisa each represent a different stage and role of womanhood, weaving in and out of each other's lives on their paths toward reaching their dreams. Magda, a Slovenian immigrant, runs the Model Gowns department, throws fabulous parties with her husband and other cultured, émigré friends and dreams of owning her own boutique. Patty and Fay, in Ladies' Cocktail Frocks, are more focused on home matters: Patty and her husband have yet to produce a child after a decade of marriage; meanwhile, Fay approaches a birthday despairing that she will ever get married. And Lesley, who's waiting to hear if she did well enough on her end-of-school exams to receive a university scholarship, is trying on a new persona as "Lisa," and working as a holiday temp in Ladies' Frocks.
Originally published in Australia in 1993, The Women in Black remains a striking debut novel of wit, charm, female friendships and universal dreams. --BrocheAroe Fabian, owner, River Dog Book Co., Beaver Dam, Wis.