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The Women in Black
- Narrated by: Deidre Rubenstein
- Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins
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The Women in Black
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Summary
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 novel, a lost Australian classic.
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Editor reviews
Madeleine St. John’s witty, sprightly comedy of manners, set in Sydney in the late 1950’s, is propelled by the buoyant and effervescent performance of narrator Deidre Rubenstein, who is more than up to the task in portraying Fay, Lisa, and Patty, the novel’s three central characters - all employees of Goode’s department store - united by their jaded outlook on the opposite sex and the unexpected twists and turns their personal and professional lives undergo during the whirlwind Christmas shopping season in this light-hearted and diverting audiobook.
Critic reviews
"A highly sophisticated work, full of funny, sharp and subtle observations...a small masterpiece." ( Sunday Times, London)
What listeners say about The Women in Black
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ele
- 14-09-22
Witty, relatable and heartwarming
Most of Chapter 1 is the Prelude; the book actually starts 12mins 45sec into Chapter 1.
The story draws you into the lives of the 4 women and their interactions, their dilemmas, their family and love lives. Madeleine St. John has taken great care to create well crafted characters and I suspect she was a people watcher as well as a pretty shrewd judge of character. Each woman is at different stage of life and from different backgrounds, but through working at the department store, Goodes, are drawn together. It feels like these could be descriptions of real life people and their doings. I love it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- DartmoorDiva
- 18-04-20
Charming, if brief
I have not heard of this author before, but the book was recommended to me. I enjoyed it as a light and entertaining piece. I thought the narrator was excellent. I’m not entirely clear why this is regarded as such a masterpiece, but it was fun and an interesting period piece
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- bucksdaisy
- 29-09-18
No depth!
Could have read this novel as a short story in a women's mag....little depth or substance. It felt contrived and sime bits a bit pretentious. so much for the author rebelling against the system and her upbringing.I do not understand the reviews that we so keen on it.
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