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.