The Radio Hour

The Radio Hour is the seventh historical novel by best-selling Australian author, Victoria Purman. In it, she immerses the reader in mid-nineteen-fifties Sydney, when radio, king of home entertainment for two decades, is under threat from that new phenomenon, television. And in a society where women are still very much second-class citizens, Miss Martha Berry, with twenty-four years’ experience in almost every department at the ABC, is assigned as secretary to the new young producer of “As the Sun Sets”, the soon-to-start radio drama serial with a city setting that execs hope will find equal favour with audiences as their iconic Blue Hills.

It’s quickly apparent that after smoking, long lunches, drinking, Quentin Quinn’s greatest talent is for procrastination and, if the show is to air, Martha will have to take action. But is it wise to allow him to take credit for the scripts she writes while he’s passed out after boozy lunches? Especially as he’s so dismissive of her stellar abilities and essential input. In reality, she doesn’t have a choice.

But, from her own experiences, and those of neighbours, colleagues and listeners, she crafts scripts that address issues challenging women, to the consternation of the execs, and the gratitude of loyal listeners. Her characters deal with menopause and an inappropriate employer, while also interacting with Italian immigrants setting up business in the neighbourhood.

Meticulously-researched popular culture references will likely evoke a good dose of nostalgia in readers of a certain vintage, and firmly establish the era. Purman’s depiction of the prevailing sexist attitude rings true and will certainly resonate with many women, although she’s careful not to tar all the men with the same brush, slotting several supportive males into key roles.

The issues of lower pay, menial tasks, workplace sexual harassment, feeling invisible, and being dismissed when married, all get an airing. Each chapter is prefaced with a teaser in the fashion of a radio drama episode. Funny, enthralling, heart-warming and uplifting, this is another Purman winner.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Harper Muse

What a marvellous, insightful, informative and splendidly entertaining book The Radio Hour is! Author Victoria Purman’s journalistic skills shine through as she takes readers back to ABC Radio Sydney in the 1950’s. Her characters are utterly believable and mostly likeable, though there are two particularly unpleasant people who have a key role in this story, both of them men and both mysoginistic. They serve to showcase the way women were treated in those days, a time when you were expected to resign from work if you married and heaven forbid you get pregnant. Martha Berry owns the page with her calm approach to addressing problems, including the fact that her new boss is both wet behind the ears and utterly incompetent but also a raging drunk and the epitomy of laziness. I loved that his incompetence led her to take the leap from just being a secretary to actually writing and casting As The Sun Sets, the series he was hired to create. I loved that his ineptitude allowed her to showcase her own fabulous talent. While this story is fiction, it definitely brought history to life for me and is yet another Victoria Purman book for my keeper shelf.

Yet another wonderful book and read form Victoria Purman. This is a book about the golden years of radio and it takes you on a through the times and when 50yo Martha Berry wrote the plays for radio after the war. It is such a great read with plenty of humour but also shows the extraordinary strength women had to have when working for egotistical men.

This is a great read that will take you on a ride, through the ups and downs. You will laugh and cry, you will feel the emotions of the story and you will love it. I enjoyed every minute of this book and highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Focus | Harper Muse for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Victoria Purman creates a fabulous cast of characters with The Radio Hour.

I feel like I know very little about Australia and I enjoyed a book about radio with a setting of England several years ago (then name escapes me). And what a great cover!

Miss Martha Berry is our main character. (The point of view stays with this character and the timeline does not jump around.) Martha is assigned as secretary to a new addition to the company, Quentin Quinn. Martha starts covering for Quentin's ineptitudes ...

Again, Martha Berry is just a loveable character. What a great book! Highly recommended.

I also loved the Authors note where Victoria Purman slips in some actual folks from the archives of Australian radio. Kudos.

Many thanks to NetGalley for introducing me (yet once again) to a new to me author. I'll be looking for additional books by Victoria Purman. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Muse publishing for approving my request to read the advance review copy of The Radio Hour in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is Feb 04, 2025. 352 pages.

This was an excellent book! I will look for more from Purman!

Martha Berry, our protagonist, is fifty years old, with a long career as a secretary in the radio industry, loyally working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia's public broadcaster, in the years after WWII. Witty and bright, Martha has spent those years being an invisible force, keeping her bosses in line and on their toes without seemingly even understanding how important she is to the running of the radio. She joins the staff of a new radio serial, and soon must face the fact that a woefully unequipped pup has been put at the helm. As Martha saves the show, she finds herself writing scripts and casting actors, soon running the show in all but name. As events-- and hijinks-- unfold, Martha has to decide if she is content remaining invisible or if she finally wants to be seen.

I could not put this book down! I love that it focused on a mature woman and showed everyone has room to grow and change. The actors on the radio show were a delight, and Martha's young friends, other secretaries at ABC, brought new perspectives mixed with the concerns of the young and beautiful. Martha acts as a guiding older sister to her coworkers, and I appreciated the space for Martha to share her own wisdom and build her confidence. The book is beautifully crafted, with realistic, down-to-earth people, excellent dialogue, and a plot that pulls you in. It could be it's own radio drama!

This is the first book I've read by Victoria Purman...and it won't be the last! A truly enjoyable story with well developed characters who are so loveable (except Quentin Quinn!!!). Set in the 1950s when radio shows were all the rage and TV was just being introduced - Purman expertly portrays how women have to fight to raise the glass ceiling, in addition to putting up with sexual harrassment from their bosses - interesting how a lot hasn't changed!

I truly enjoyed this sweet treat of a book! Martha is totally my hero! She lives by the beat of her own drum it is determined to see anything she does in life become a success if not more! Picture it 1950! 💖 We have our female lead character working at a broadcasting center in Australia! Martha takes it into her daily agenda to see the ultimate breakthrough of As the Sun Sets! Which is a radio serial drama!

Fangirl moment! I am a total fan of historical radio shows! There's just something about them that were so wholesome yet so witty! Voices lending a general pick me up in every day to day life activities! 💞

Martha wants to see everything go right and even though she has to deal with Quinton Quinn who has a tendency to be....... What's a kind way of putting this?........ Overfilling his own glass with how awesome he is! LOL he's a truly entertaining character in the sense of literature but I give Martha credit I cannot work with the guy in real life LOL 😂 (the author did a fantastic job writing all the characters! I kept putting together old movie stars in my head to give them rules as I read each page and chapter!)

Like any character Martha has flaws and she definitely at some point doesn't believe in herself as much. But that is what makes a character great! When you don't believe in yourself and you don't want to be perfect you become a masterpiece! 🎙️

All in all this was a very entertaining read! I wish I could take some actors back from the 1950s and say "Hey look at this book!" The flow of the writing really grabbed me! It wasn't all jumbled together it was all absolutely perfect!

Bravo! 😎