Two women who are mother's enter the Australian Women's Weekly cookery competition to win a big cash prize. Both women have different life's but face challenges that a lot of women may face at some time in their lives. I read this book in one sitting because it was extremely hard for me to put down as I loved it so much.

Set in 1956 Melbourne, this story is told from the perpsectives of both Kathleen (married mum of 5) and Ivy (widowed working mum of 1) and their struggles in a society where the role of a woman is to serve men. I loved both of these characters whose lives became linked at a crucial moment that helped them become stronger. Both women share secrets that could change their lives but in the end, they end up finding support and the freedom to be themselves.
Loved this read!

An enjoyable book with a strong main character.

The story reminded me of The Kitchen Front.

Really loved the Australian setting and nostalgia.

Victoria Purman writes wonderful historical fiction and A Woman’s Work is her latest brilliant addition. On this occasion she takes readers back to 1956 with two women living different lives in the same Melbourne suburb. With themes of courage and strength, Victoria uses a cookery contest as the impetus for change.

Firstly I loved being immersed in the Melbourne of 1956! Television was coming along with the Olympics and there were still reflections of a world war so recently over. Victoria covers a number of issues and through outstanding research, all are covered with knowledge and heart. From domestic violence and homosexuality, to contraception (the pill just starting to be spoken of) and abortion. Victoria could not have presented a better platform to raise such topical issues. The two contrasting women’s tales - one a single mother, the other a mother of five - was likewise critical and clever in demonstrating the many constraints placed on women of this era.

‘When had her life become an endless, endless cycle of breakfast and lunch and dinner and washing and cleaning and scrubbing and wiping and mopping and scolding and child-holding and disciplining and being a wife?’

Secondly, I just loved the many cultural references of the era. I am a child of the 70s, however, so many things felt homely and familiar (I miss Salvital!) Whether it be the Woman’s Weekly itself (my mother LOVED magazines - still does), the chore of washing clothes, deciding on the standard weekly family menu, the sharing of baths or clothes, the darning when something as simple as catching your stockings on the vinyl edge of a seat, to tales of dripping as opposed to this new product called margarine - so many things that made me smile with familiarity.

‘You might find that love of cooking again, Kath. It’s something women have to do - day in and day out, week in and week out - so why not put some fun back into it’

I applaud Victoria in her Author’s Note where she expresses her view that ‘to fully tell the truth about the past, it’s important to be honest about it’. I agree 100%! That is why this novel is the perfect depiction of all the many and varied trials and tribulations women endured in the late 1950s. Yet through the often dark days of despair, something as simple as the possibility of winning a cooking competition could shed a new light on life and open the window to new possibilities. Camaraderie, friendship and hope neatly bring balance to this well rounded tale.

I truly loved A Woman’s Work and highly recommend it. This period of time was not that long ago and Victoria does an incredible job of highlighting the struggles women experienced through laws, societal expectations and personal preferences. It is not only a journey of how far we have come (and still need to go) but also how together, women are stronger.

‘She had exercised a choice and it had become her secret and her power’










This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

In A Woman’s Work, author Victoria Purman takes readers back to the 1950’s, where she gives us a great insight into the trials and tribulations faced by everyday Australian women of that time. Kathleen O’Grady is a housewife with five children, whom she loves though caring for them, her home and her husband has her worn to the bone. She’s eagerly anticipating the day when her youngest child goes off to school. While her family isn’t destitute, they are constantly trying to make ends meet. Meanwhile, war widow Ivy Quinn is also working hard to make ends meet while raising her twelve year-old son Raymond.
For both these women, the chance to win hundreds of dollars in the Women’s Weekly cooking contest allows them to dream. A television for Raymond, a washing machine for Kathleen, it all seems possible and they get busy creating in the kitchen. These two and their supporting caste of characters resonated with me. I loved the recipes they came up with as I was getting to know them and I loved Purman’s insight into life in those times of discrimination and sexism. I thought this story was well told, though not as good as her last book, The Nurses War, which was a stunner. Nonetheless, this is a terrific read and I’ll be going back for a second one soon.

A rich portrait of motherhood, societal expectations and self determination set in post WWII Australia, A Woman’s Work is an engaging novel from best selling author Victoria Purman.

Launched in 1933, offering feature articles on lifestyle, home decoration, cooking, fashion and beauty, parenthood, health and wellbeing, and current affairs as well as serialised stories, advice columns, and various competitions, by the 1950’s the Australian Women’s Weekly was the nation’s most popular household magazine. In A Woman’s Work, a competition run by the periodical searching for original recipes sparks unexpected but welcome change for Purman’s two main characters.

War widow Ivy Quinn is not much of a cook, dinner for her and her twelve year old son, Raymond, is usually no more complicated than eggs and baked beans on toast after her long days as a receptionist in a doctor’s surgery. The generous prize money offered by the Women’s Weekly competition provides an incentive for Ivy to improve her skills in the kitchen, and leads to a surprising new relationship.

Cooking meals for her family is simply another draining daily chore for exhausted wife and mother of five, Kathleen O’Grady. She appreciates that her husband, a mechanic, works hard to support them, but she increasingly resents his indifference to her own needs. Though initially reluctant to enter the Women’s Weekly competition, Kathleen discovers the task could be a gateway to reclaiming her forgotten hopes and dreams.

A Woman’s Work compassionately explores the constrained social expectations of women, and men, in mid 20th century Australia. It’s a realistic reminder as to how recently traditional gender roles were strictly enforced, and how little agency mothers in particular had over their lives.

Having raised my own large family I strongly empathised with Kathleen and her mixed feelings of love, resentment, and guilt as she struggles with the personal sacrifices she feels pressured to make to be perceived as the ‘ideal’ wife and mother. Ivy’s concerns about how she is seen as a working single mother, and her worries about her son’s masculinity, are saddening. Both characters are well realised and their journey’s are heartening.

Purman also touches on a number of provocative issues in A Woman’s Work including rape, domestic violence, homosexuality, contraception, and abortion. Though change has been wrought over time, the legacy of shame and fear still lingers today.

The era and setting of A Woman’s Work is deftly recreated. Recipes of the time drawn from actual entries to the competition preface several chapters. I did a little reading about the history of the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine (which is now a monthly periodical) and found it interesting, particularly with regards to how individual editors over time influenced the content of the magazine and therefore contributed to society’s attitudes about the role of women.

An engaging historical novel, I enjoyed reading A Woman’s Work and I am left thankful for the strides we have made since.

I keep reading this author's novels because I loved The Land Girls so much. I keep hoping for another book as good but this is not it. However it is a pleasant and informative read, and judging by its reviews most people liked it much more than I did!

A Woman's Work is an interesting piece of research about life in 1956 in Australia. Post war and still suffering restrictions, it was not an easy time for women raising families. The author illustrates this using two different types of family, one a married woman with a husband and five children, and the other a single mum with one child.

As usual the author has done her research and there are some very interesting recipes of the day included. Overall a good story worth reading.

Post war Melbourne in 1956 saw many different faces in the community. The memory of rationing and loss wasn't far from the minds of everyday people, while others were thinking ahead to the upcoming Olympics. Ivy Quinn, war widow and single mother of eleven year old Raymond, worked at the doctor's surgery as receptionist, and her kind and caring nature was part of her charm. When a new doctor arrived, Ivy helped him to settle in, and soon he had a regular list of patients. When a competition in the Australian Women's Weekly took her eye, Ivy decided to teach an enthusiastic Raymond, and soon the new doctor, Harry, Raymond and Ivy were creating culinary delights.

Kathleen O'Grady lived with her husband Peter and five children, all two years apart in age, with her youngest still in nappies. Kathleen's days were full from beginning to end, with Monday as wash day, Tuesday for baking and so it went, while Peter was at work all day earning money to feed the family and keep a roof over their heads. Kathleen's mother Violet was a wonderful help with the children plus her cakes and biscuits were well loved. When Violet spotted a competition in the Australian Women's Weekly, she and Kathleen joined forces to participate - not that Kathleen had spare time, but Violet convinced her.

Would Ivy and Kathleen do well in the competition? Both women gradually gained a confidence they'd both been lacking which would help them with their futures...

A Woman's Work by Aussie author Victoria Purman sets the stage to a time I remember well. The husband/father at work while the wife/mum does it all, and even when he arrived home, he expected dinner to be on the table, the children to be bathed and ready for bed, quietly eating their dinner. On the weekend, said husband expected to sleep in while wife saw to the children and prepared his breakfast! Both Kathleen and Ivy were lovely women, strong, caring, excellent mothers, with a strength they didn't know they had. I enjoyed this book - which is a side-step from the author's usual work - and recommend it highly.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my digital ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Every time Victoria Purman brings a book out I say it’s her “best book ever” and I honestly mean it. [book:A Woman's Work|67353888] is no different - this is her best book ever!

Moving on from her previous books looking at women in WWI and WWII we now get to the 50s where women are still expected to stay home after marriage and look after their children and husband. That is Kathleen’s lot in life - 5 children, one still in nappies and a husband who expects her to put his needs first - his favourite meals governed by the day of the week. He even gets to get in the bath first, followed by each of the children with Kathleen getting into the grubby cold water after the kids are in bed. Hubby relaxes and reads the paper while she baths and beds the children. She is constantly exhausted.

The other heroine of the book is Ivy, single mum to twelve-year-old Raymond, a war baby who never met his dad. She worries that he doesn’t have a male role model in his life, and because she works all day as a doctors receptionist she is so tired she doesn’t cook nourishing meals for him.

Enter the Australia Women’s Weekly cooking competition with a huge money prize. A prize that could turn around the lives of both women. Raymond talks his mum into entering so they can afford a TV set and maybe afford tickets to the 1956 Olympic Games to be held in Melbourne. Kathleen’s mother suggested she enters as the money could buy a washing machine and other modern household appliances to make Kathleen’s life easier.

Both women start cooking the suggested recipes, Ivy gradually learns she can cook, Kathleen can cook but her husband doesn’t like the changes - won’t even try the first couple of dishes she cooks. I really, related to Kathleen trying to extend her repertoire of family meals - my brother-in-law liked meat and three veg every night, with a roast on Sundays. When my late Sister-in-law made a spaghetti bolognaise one night he was aghast and refused to eat it. She and the four kids all gobbled it down and she made him ham sandwiches instead. Now in his 70s he is quite adventurous in his eating but we all had a good laugh at him.

Victoria Purman is a meticulous researcher - the period the book is set in is when women were starting to flex their muscles, trying to break out of the mould that their fathers and husbands had forced them in. Women tasted freedom and independence during the war and they did not like going back into the homes and losing their say in how their lives went.

I was horrified at the plights of these two women - I was very lucky my father was very helpful around the house and encouraged mum to do her own thing. When I got married in the 70s I did not have to give up my job, and my husband jointly helped with the house chores. Still does. It took the Ivy’s and Kathleen’s of the world to take the steps to free up the next generation.

Although there was despair and hard times, there was lots of light moments. Both women had friends to support them, show them kindness and give them hope. The two women eventually cross paths as Kathleen is a patient at the doctor surgery where Ivy works, Ivy helps Kathleen in her time of need.

I was entranced by the story - I started it reading it on a Saturday morning and did not stop until I finished it just before bedtime. My hubby was sent out for Chinese takeaway so I didn’t have to stop.

I can’t wait to see what Victoria’s next book is about - all I know is when I get my hands on it I’ll have to lock the doors and pretend to be out until it’s finished!

This story is endearing, heartbreaking and inspiring all in one.
The story centres around Kathleen and Ivy and is set in the mid 50's. Women have the right to vote but not many other rights and they do not get to make their own choices. Kathleen is a married mother of 5 who feels drained and unappreciated by her husband. Ivy is a widowed mother of 1 who is struggling to make ends meet and find a balance when parenting an almost teenage boy.
Their struggles are similar even though their worlds are very different. And of course everything is made so much harder by the expectations and judgement of others that was predominant during this time period.

I felt a range of emotions reading this book. Empathy for the struggles of a tired mother, frustration for the lack or autonomy women had in this era and joy and pride when the characters found the strength to stand up for themselves.

A really enjoyable read by a fantastic author.

This book is a fabulous read, set in the 1950s it’s a perfect Australian outline of a woman’s life and the associated expectations at the time!
The main characters are strong but restricted, it’s wonderful when they reveal their self worth!
Ivy is a single mum with secrets, her life is devoted to her son Raymond. Ivy loves her job as a doctor’s receptionist, always helping others but wondering if she should strive for more.
Kathleen doesn’t have a lot of help from husband Peter, she’s overloaded with household chores and raising their five children!
A new doctor and the Australian Women’s Weekly bring hope to Ivy and Kathleen, prize money from a cooking competition inspires them both.
The storyline is absolutely brilliant and realistic, the topics of the day are sensitively discussed and enlightening!
A well researched and informative read!

Congratulations and thanks to Harlequin Australia, NetGalley and the fabulous Victoria Purman for the opportunity to read this book.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I found this incredibly absorbing; although there’s not a lot in the way of high drama, you get completely pulled into the lives of two ordinary women very quickly. I followed their paths with a lot of interest.

Australians are tentatively setting aside World War II and moving forward; however, the scars of the war are visible everywhere. For example, Ivy is bringing up her son Raymond alone; she’s a war widow. However, she is able to support them by working in one of the few jobs easily open to women: as a receptionist.

Kathleen, meanwhile, is swamped by her five children. She thinks she still loves her husband, but barely has time to notice anymore. The work is unrelenting, unstimulating, and unrewarding. Her husband doesn’t help – doesn’t notice – and Kathleen hasn’t time for friends anymore.

When the Australian Women’s Weekly announces a cooking competition, it sparks something in both women. Ivy sees a chance to enjoy an activity with Raymond, and teach him some life skills. Kathleen sees a chance to perhaps recapture her enjoyment of cooking, and maybe jolt her out of the rut she’s in. Both dream about what the prize money could mean for their lives.

Both enter the competition, but of course not everyone can be a winner. And both are experiencing, or about to experience, crises in their personal lives.

Both Ivy and Kathleen are immediately recognisable characters. Both have been given limited choices in their lives, and even those minimal choices have been sharply circumscribed by the fact that they are women. It’s true that this is set in the 1950s, and that things have improved for women since then. Still, most female readers are going to feel a nasty familiarity with many of the attitudes and behaviours portrayed here.

Although this is, very clearly, historical fiction – World War II still looms large in the minds of those who lived it only a few years ago – it is easy to see the parallels with modern life. Ivy and Kathleen could easily be women that you know. I think that’s why it’s so immediately absorbing: you understand their lives and care about what happens to them.

Purman has written a number of novels set in this period, and historical facts and events are well woven into the story. They’re not obtrusive, but add to the richness of the story telling. It was easy to sit back and fall into the period. To me the dominant part of the novel was the characters, but that’s partly because the background is so seamless that it doesn’t draw attention to itself as something “created”.

I keep coming back to Ivy and Kathleen. Both are incredibly vivid and empathetic characters, and they carry the novel. I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened in their personal lives, not what happened in the cooking contest.

In fact, my one quibble with this novel is the blurb. It makes it sound as though the cookery contest is a prominent part of the plot, and yet I found it almost incidental. Yes, it impacts on both women, but to me it just didn’t seem to be particularly important compared to everything else.

This is a completely absorbing, really enjoyable novel that should appeal to anyone looking for a strongly character based novel. It should also have appeal to those who enjoy historical fiction, but I found the historical aspects somewhat subsumed by the strength of the personal stories.

Copy received via Netgalley for an honest review

I really do enjoy Ms Purman's stories of women during/post the wars, and she has done another spectacular job with A Woman's Work.

Told from the perspective of two women post WW2, she gives us an insight to the role of women during this time, and these two wonderful women breaking down the barriers of what is expected of them, and what they are worth. They are not just tied to the kitchen with their apron strings. They are not just baby making factories.

They have their dreams and aspirations just like any man.

Though the one thing they both look forward to is the latest edition of the Australian Women's Weekly.

Strong, indestructable women rule the world, don't you know, and our leading ladies are two prime examples of nothing keeping them down.

Very enjoyable read with some darker undertones at times, it kept me interested and turning each page, needing to know what happened to them next.

Another brilliant story from Victoria Purman, this time she has taken me back to 1956, and tells the story of what life is like back then, we are introduced to two woman, who both live in St Kilda, so very different but show such strength and courage, come along and meet them and see what our mother’s and grandmother’s lives were like.

1956 and the Olympics are going too held in Melbourne and there is much excitement, to be had, television is about to come as well and the fabulous Australian Woman’s Weekly cooking competition is on, and the prize money is awesome and Kathleen O’Grady and Ivy Quinn will be entering.

Kathleen is married to motor mechanic Peter, she is thirty years old has been married for eleven years and they have five children and being a mother and wife is starting to take its toll on her, when her mother visits and brings the latest copy of the Woman’s Weekly they discover the competition and start creating recipes to enter.

Ivy Quinn, is thirty six and widowed, she has a twelve year old son Raymond and a job as a Doctor’s receptionist when young Raymond sees the prize money and thinks what it could buy them they decide to get creative and enter, although Ivy is not the best cook she is more than happy to enter with her son.

This is a beautifully told story that is realistic in the way things were back in 1956, this is what many woman went through, men ruled and it was really hard for any woman to make a decision for themselves, Victoria Purman has taken matters that still play a big part today and told them with care thought and compassion and bought this story and the characters to life on the pages. There are so many wonderful characters.

I loved this one so much and I learnt more about the times then and am glad that things are moving forward for many people, it is a story that I would highly recommend, Victoria Purman writes stories that are packed with real life and emotion, don’t miss this one it is a must read. This will be going on the keeper shelf.

My thanks to Harlequin AU for my copy to read and review.

“You can never tell if a woman is having her own troubles. We’re so good at hiding them behind a smile and a laugh. Taught from birth, we are, to put on a brave face.”

A Woman’s Work is a historical novel by best-selling Australian author, Victoria Purman. Ivy Quinn went from being a secretary before the war, to a Corporal Stenographer in the AWAS in 1942, to war widow with a young son to raise alone. Her job as receptionist for Dr Watkins covers the cost of their small flat in St Kilda, but doesn’t leave her a lot of spare time. She freely admits that cooking has never been her forte and, while twelve-year-old Raymond never complains about the makeshift meals she serves, she wonders if she should try harder.

The enthusiasm that young mother of five, Kathleen O’Grady had for cooking when she first married Peter has understandably dwindled as exhaustion has taken over her life. “Kathleen’s time and energy had become increasingly consumed with nappies and cleaning and trips to the grocer and the fruiterer and the butcher and the fishmonger… being a wife and mother robbed her of sleep, distracted her, exhausted her, and despite the often overwhelming love for her children and her life, most days she went to bed feeling like the soggy dregs in the bottom of the sink.”

When the Australian Women’s Weekly announces a Cooking Contest, in which readers need to submit a recipe using one or more of five specific ingredients, the generous cash prize has even the poorest cooks wondering if they could win something. Raymond convinces Ivy that they could, together, try out some dishes to hopefully win a prize: the idea of buying a television set, or getting tickets to the Olympics, is a great incentive.

Kathleen is ready to dismiss the idea outright, but her mother, ever perceptive of her daughter’s condition, suggests they make a day of cooking potential winners once a week. It’s true that not every attempt is a success: Peter O’Grady, raised to be waited on, displays some xenophobic attitudes, even towards food. And Ivy’s first go, she laughingly admits, tasted like glue.

Prefacing some chapters with traditional recipes (actually sourced from magazines from the 1950’s), Purman paints a very realistic picture of a woman’s lot during that era. She demonstrates the difficulties caused by the Catholic Church’s ruling on contraception; the discrimination against women in so many aspects of life; and women’s powerlessness against domestic violence.

Her characters are likeable and much more than one-dimensional, growing and developing as their story progresses. They deal with homophobia, bullying, and the ignorance and small-mindedness characteristic of many at the time. Attitudes to polio vaccination show that anti-vaxers are not a new phenomenon.

Purman conveys her setting and era with consummate ease: cultural references like austerity cookbooks, darning stockings, Woman’s Weekly culinary suggestions, magazines in which a myriad of products offer cash for product captions and testimonials, the repurposing moth-eaten knitwear, simple leisure activities, going to the cinema, and the scarcity of TV, all cement her tale firmly in the mid-1950s. Well-researched, interesting and moving, this is superlative Australian historical fiction.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harlequin Australia.

A Woman’s Work is such an authentic story. A wonderful insight into Australian women in the 1950s, leading up to the Melbourne Olympics, we meet two women who are connected to the Australian Women’s Weekly’s national cooking competition. Kathleen is a wife and mother to four children, always scrimping and making ends meet with the meagre resources she has, and is longing for something else in her life. Her focus on herself dwindles away, and her connection to her mother, and then to Ivy is a chance for her to see her future in a new perspective. Ivy is a single mum of one, which was very rare in this time period, working as a medical receptionist who starts to realise that is courage that will drive her to finding herself. She also meets a new doctor at the practice where she works; how their relationship unfolds is very sweet, and highlights another part of the 1950s that was steeped in discrimination.
The cooking competition is an ingenious goal for both women to channel creativity, and year for something that could make such a difference in their lives: to experiment, to instigate change, and of course win money to ease the cost of living. This competition gave both women a chance to stand out and be proud of their contributions and ideas, at a time where the woman of the house was set in her place at home. Such a great reflection of the times, and written in such a heartfelt way.

This book was absolutely amazing. Rarely does a book hold my interest so much that I was just nodding and smiling at the content which took me back to my childhood.
Two women with different circumstances both decide to enter the Australian Women's Weekly cookery competition where they may have the opportunity to win money which would change their circumstances. I just loved the references to the era that I remember so well as a child, the food, the brands, the fact that women did not wear trousers if they had a job and the list goes on. There are some pretty serious issues that are also discussed in this book, and I take my hat off to Victoria for doing so much research of the era in which this book was set - and she absolutely nailed it!

I cannot recommend this book more highly, I suggest that it is what I would call a modern historical fiction novel as a lot of readers would remember the time that it was set in.

Thank you so much to Harlequin and Net Galley for providing me with a copy of this novel for review purposes. 5/5

I discovered Victoria’s books a couple of years ago when my mother-in-law gave me a copy of The Land Girls. I fell in love with the Australian history and characters and eagerly caught up on her backlist. Coincidentally just as I finished Jennifer Ryan’s The Kitchen Front, one of my favorites reads of last year Victoria announced her next book was also going to be about a cooking competition and I knew I had to read this one and stalked Netgalley awaiting its release. It didn’t disappoint! A thoroughly well-researched and engaging examination of the gender roles and treatment of women in 1950’s Australia. It covered a lot of ground societies view of women, work, marriage and family life.

The novel transports you St Kilda in June 1956. Austerity measures still linger after the war, television is about to be introduced to Australia and people are excited about the upcoming Olympic Games. I loved the attention to detail and really felt I travelled back in time. I certainly felt a new appreciation of all the modern appliances we have today- especially the washing machine. I was exhausted just reading about on the main characters day and the amount of laborious housework she needed to do.

Told from alternate points of view, we are introduced to two different women.
Both very strong and interesting women.
Kathleen, a mother of five, working hard at home to look after her husband and children. In contrast Ivy is a single, working mother. I clicked more with Ivy’s character and enjoyed seeing Kathleen’s growth over the novel.


The cooking competition wasn’t as much as feature that I thought it would be. However, I enjoyed learning of the food of the time. It’s quite different to the multicultural cuisine we have today. Influences such the American soldiers, rice and pasta were starting to creep in. I loved the recipes and am definitely keen to give a few a try.

The astonishingly rich prize of the 1956 Australian Women's Weekly cookery competition offers two women the possibility of a new kind of future, in this compassionate look at the extraordinary lives of ordinary women - our mothers and grandmothers - in a beautifully realised post-war Australia.

It's 1956, and while Melbourne is in a frenzy gearing up for the Olympics, the women of Australia are cooking up a storm for their chance to win the equivalent of a year's salary in the extraordinary Australian Women's Weekly cookery contest.

For two women, in particular, the prize could be life-changing. For war widow and single mum Ivy Quinn, a win would mean more time to spend with her twelve-year-old son, Raymond. Mother of five Kathleen O'Grady has no time for cooking competitions, but the prize could offer her a different kind of life for herself and her children, and the chance to control her own future.

As winter turns to spring both women begin to question their lives. For Kathleen, the grinding domesticity of her work as a wife and mother no longer seems enough, while Ivy begins to realise she has the courage to make a difference for other women and tell the truth about the ghosts from her past.

But is it the competition prize that would give them a new way of seeing the world - a chance to free themselves from society's expectation and change their own futures - or is it the creativity and confidence it brings?

I've never heard of this author, it's possible this is her debut novel. The plot follows two very different women both vying for the same prize, whose lives are altered by their own efforts.

This book will probably appeal to #australianwomensweekly readers the most, as the popular magazine features prominently throughout this book.

The plot is well paced, and most of the events mentioned have been well researched, which lends some authenticity to the book.

Overall, a lighthearted, easy read, with zero heaviness. This was easily finished in an hour.

Thank you to @netgalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

#bookreview #bookstagram #womensfiction #netgalley

‘Television was coming to Australia …’

Melbourne, 1956. As Melbourne prepares to host the 1956 Olympic Games, two women are dealing with their very different family situations. Kathleen O’Grady, a busy mother of five has very little time for anything beyond the daily challenges of looking after her family. Ivy Quinn, a war widow with a twelve-year-old son combines paid work as a doctor’s receptionist with her family responsibilities.

The women hear about an Australian Women’s Weekly cooking competition with a major prize of £A600 (an enormous amount of money in 1956). While neither woman is initially interested (where would either of them find the time? besides Kathleen’s husband Peter does not like change, and both women have limited culinary expertise). But Kathleen dreams of the difference £A600 could make, and Ivy is inspired (just a little) by the fact that the recipes need to use specified ingredients.

Kathleen is increasingly worn down by caring for her family. Her mother notices and offers help. Together they discover new options which even Peter will eat! Ivy also has assistance, and through working with a colleague realises that her own experience, including a secret she finds uncomfortable, enables her to assist other women.

While reading this novel, I was reminded of my own mother’s experiences with four children, a limited budget and a rigid menu dictated by my father’s eating preferences. She would have believed that £A600 was an absolute fortune. I was reminded, too, of the constraints that married women faced. Working outside the family home was frowned upon, unless the woman was a professional (looked up to) or unmarried (looked down on). Society is a little less rigid (mostly) these days.

Ms Purman touches on several difficult issues in this novel, including abortion and same sex relationships – both of which were illegal at the time.

Another terrific novel from Ms Purman: taking the reader back into an Australia that some of us are old enough to recognise, and others will see as history.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HQ Fiction for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith