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! 😎

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
What a great start to my reading year this book made! I hadn't heard of Victoria Purman or this book before, but I was intrigued to find out more about radio broadcasting in post-war Australia. I never expected to have this book worm its way into my heart and make me feel empowered to forge my own path with courage. Martha and all the other secretaries and actors at the ABC are wonderfully realized and, just like Martha's episodes of As the Sun Sets, their experiences highlight such important issues that, sadly, we are still facing today. This book is approachable and inspiring and I would be happy to read similar books by Purman in the future.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I’m declaring it now–this is one of my favorite books of 2025, and the year has barely started! It has all the wonderful feminist vibes of Lessons in Chemistry but set in Australia’s public radio scene of the 1950s. Martha is 50-something woman who has endured garbage treatment by management for the 20+ years she has worked at the broadcasting company. They assign her to different shows and producers, and she always does her job admirably but with no accolades. When she’s assigned to a young cocksure producer, who will be at the helm of a new series, she’s reached the breaking point.

Martha’s boss is always drunk and can’t complete a script. He also can’t manage to hire the actors needed for the radio show. With sleight of hand, and a lot of work from Martha’s part, the show slowly comes together. But her boss just can’t get his crap together to write a script because he’s always sauced (and underqualified.) That’s when Martha steps in and starts writing the show, telling her boss that he must not remember writing it because he was “under the weather.”

Things are going along swimmingly until Martha puts some content in the show that gets her boss in trouble–she dares to mention menopause! However, the public outpouring of support lends the higher-ups to allow the storyline to continue, but it must be called “the change of life.” Martha’s boss becomes wise to her machinations, yet allows her to continue to write the scripts so he can keep on drinking all day and hitting on the young secretaries at work.

How long can Martha conceal her ghostwriting, and if she’s found out, will she lose her job? You have to remember that back in those days in Australia at the national broadcasting networks, if you got married, you had to relinquish your job. The men could and would do all sorts of salacious things to the women. The misogynistic, sexist, harassment was just terrible, and women put up with it or they’d be out of a job. If Martha is found out to be the writer of the show, she’ll most likely lose her job because she overstepped the boundaries of what was normal.

How will this all shake out? You’ll just have to read the book for yourself to see!

Such a great book. Sadly all to relevant if not more so for today too.
I do so admire woman like Martha. They are brave for all of us woman. I recognised so many themes woman are currently battling with. So it's always such a great way to feel inspired with stories like these. Though they aren't without there hardships.

Martha is 50 years old and has worked her whole career being wrongly overlooked. She works for a broadcasting company and has had to carry or cover for many of her male bosses.
So when she is made to work for one such male who doesn't make the cut,at all she takes matter into her own hands. But to do so successfully she must keep what she is doing a secret.
Can she watch others take her work as their own. Especially when this worn is met with growing praise?
This was such a great book. It would be a great book to read and then discuss. I often wonder what males would think reading such books, and or compared to females. Especially in current times when we seem to be going backwards.
I loved all yhe characters described in this
Even the horrific ones! Because they were just written so well.

The Radio Hour is an engaging novel by Victoria Putnam about a woman named Martha Berry who works at a radio station as a secretary in Australia after the war. Only unmarried women are allowed to work, and Martha is turning fifty. She is reassigned as a script girl to a new male writer right out of school for a new radio show that is expected to be a hit. As the writer struggles to write a script and is drunk most of the day, Martha takes control to save the program and finds a new passion for writing. While she is ghostwriting the new hit show, she’s not terrified of discovery and draws strength from her newfound talents. Once her secret is threatened to be exposed, Martha has to decide if she wants to stay in the shadows or embrace her talent and claim her own successes.

I loved this book. It started a little slow, but i ended up drawn into the story and didn’t want to put it down. I loved all of the characters, especially Martha, the voice actors, and the calendar girls. I enjoyed reading her scripts along with the story. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for access to an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was as fabulous as Miss Martha Berry herself!

1950's Australia, fifty-year-old Martha Berry loves her job at ABC, working for producers of radio drama, department heads en more important men. But all she's ever dreamed of is writing her own radio drama. When rookie writer Quentin Quinn gets appointed a new show with Martha as his secretary, she jumps at the chance to help create a new show listeners around Australia will love. But when it turns out that Quinn has no real intention of creating said addictive show, Martha takes matters into her own hands.

This book was great! I love historical fiction when it centers around women who fight injustices in their lives or workplaces. Martha was a wonderful protagonist. Always friendly, always caring, but also not afraid to take the helm when she sees an opportunity. If it weren't for the regular mentions of her age and her starting menopause, I'd have forgotten she's actually an older woman.
Besides miss Berry, it's the lovely cast of side characters that really cemented the story for me. There's far too many for me to list, but for me, the Calendar Girls definitely rank up high. They're a lovely reminder that you can become the best of friends with someone despite being in totally different area's of life.

The writing style is absolutely lovely. The chapters all start with a minor teaser, as if you're listening to a radio drama yourself. It makes the reading experience wonderfully comfortable and relaxed, as you sort of know what to expect in the chapter, but get to be surprised by how something plays out.
There's also quite some mentions of social injustices in this book. Women who have to quit their work when they get married, because they now have homes and families to take care of, women not being 'good enough' or 'clever enough' to work on their own shows or projects and always having to resort to being a secretary. It definitely ground my gears a bit, but I loved that towards the end of the book, Martha and her lovely friend group all fought against the rules set out for women.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, especially if you've enjoyed Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus! If you're not sure whether to give this book a go, I'd definitely say yes!

In post world war Australia the radio has kept families captive and tuned in certain hours each day. The threat of television finally landing on their continent has some worried that radio will quickly be replaced. Martha has been a secretary to many through the decades, so when she gets assigned a new wet behind the ears boss that is going to keep radio alive with a new radio show she knows her work load just doubled. Wondering how Quinn got this position for as young as he is, she quickly realizes that there will be no show with how much he enjoys his drink that supposedly is his inspiration. Coming up with a plan to save this not even out yet show and to keep those tuned to the radio, Martha does all she can to get Quinn's inspiration moving and soon they have a hit on their hands. Touchy topics and yet fans want more and love that they are not alone with these things. Quinn can't seem to take in enough credit and so the few who have figured out the truth behind this instant hit come up with a plan to keep this show as is, while taking out the one who could ruin it all. When Quinn jumps at the chance to make a hit show with television, he jumps at the chance and Martha must now come clean with every thing that has made this show what it is. I really enjoyed this novel and really had never thought about how the fear of television replacing radio was a worry during that time. It was interesting to get a behind the scenes look at how they did these radio shows and all of the sound effects. Thank you to the author, Harper Muse and Austenprose PR for the complementary novel. This review is of my own opinion and accord.

Yesterday, Victoria Purman‘s novel The Radio Hour got its US release (less than a year after its original publication in Australia). Set in Sydney in 1956, it follows fifty-year-old Martha Berry and her unexpected and ultimately impactful role in radio broadcasting. This novel highlights women’s rights and how “it’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

Why I Chose This Book:
I love the subject of radio broadcasting and storytelling through such a medium. When I was in college, one of my two majors was Communication, so reading about broadcasting is always interesting for me. The Radio Hour also caught my attention for its focus on working women in 1950s Australia.

What I Liked:
- Older main character than I usually read: she turns 50 towards the beginning of the book
- Dealing with unqualified, incompetent men…
- Finally getting more respect in the workplace (even if it is two decades late!)
- Martha steps up to write stories for a radio serial, often borrowing from her own life
- Drawing inspiration from other women who didn’t get the respect they deserved in their lifetime (including authors like George Eliot and Charlotte Brontë)
- Shining a light on women’s working rights, women’s health, workplace harassment, and immigrant lives
- Excerpts of Martha’s radio show, As the Sun Sets
- Humor (including the so-called Calendar Girls)
- “It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”

Final Thoughts
The Radio Hour unfolds layer by layer into a novel that I really loved. Martha is unlike other characters I read, both for her age (50) and the fact that she’s never married or had any romantic relationship. She’s never had significant goals, and I loved watching her blossom here, after over 20 years at her job. This novel brings readers into the world of radio broadcasting, rights and challenges women faced, and how you can find yourself at any age.

This was such a charming and heartwarming story!

I loved stepping back into the 1950s and Australia’s golden age of radio, when families gathered around the “wireless” to listen to their favorite programs.

This was right before television was starting there, and people were so invested in the characters and story. I loved learning about the process of making these shows and how popular they were.

I thought it was interesting that the government had concerns about American television shows like Perry Mason and I Love Lucy airing, because they didn’t want their Australian children picking up American accents.

The highlight of the story was Martha Berry. In her younger years she had dreams of marriage, children, and a home. By the age of 50, Martha is at peace with her unfulfilled dreams, but a new one unexpectedly opens up.

She is asked to assist a new hire to write and produce a new radio drama. He is completely unqualified for the role, and rather than see it fail, Martha steps in and anonymously begins to write and produce the program. It’s a huge success and her inept boss is more than happy to take the credit, but Martha’s secret can’t remain hidden for too long.

The 50s may have been a simpler time, but The Radio Hour deftly shows that they weren’t for women in the workforce. They were frequently overlooked, underestimated, and sexually harassed or assaulted and nothing was done about it. In certain circumstances, they couldn’t work after getting married.

Martha is use to this being the case, but when she finally finds her voice and is no longer willing to be quiet or “polite,” it’s a glorious thing!

This is a delightful and entertaining tale, but it’s also a powerful one. Highly recommended.

I received a copy from Harper Muse and Austenprose PR via NetGalley, but a positive review was not required. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

An Australian, inspirational, historical fiction set in the 1950s broadcasting world? YES, please.

Five stars to Victoria Purman for this fantastic read, The Radio Hour. Every page I was invested in Martha and all that is involved in radio serials and the office life. And the Australian aspect of it. I was invested in it all.

I especially felt drawn to the way Martha really comes to grow as a character. She comes from being the hardworking, yet quiet secretary for years to the employee that steps up, uses her voice and makes the work environment better for everyone. Especially the working women.

Martha’s character is inspiring. She gives a voice to problems of the 50s and helps readers see that they too can have a voice. They too can make a difference. At least, that is how her story left me thinking. Oh, and to remember those dreams of yours and get going!

The way Purman presents the story, the little chapter teasers, gives it that charming and fun feel that you don’t often find in historical fiction. Also how it is all tied to the radio. I just adored seeing how families came together for the serials. They way the radio brought people together overall. The simplicity of that compared to what brings people together today is magical.

Overall, LOVED IT. Highly recommend it. I’ll definitely be rereading this one. I know it’s only February but this is definitely going on my favorites list for 2025.

Content Warning: There are two instances where women go into detail of men being inappropriate in the workplace.

*I received an advanced copy from the publisher/author and all opinions are my own.

What is your favorite TV show? I have a lot of favorites, but one of them is Only Murders in the Building. I love a good mystery that also has humor.

Martha Berry has worked in broadcasting as a secretary for twenty-four years. It’s now 1956 in Australia and television is being talked about on the horizon. While she has vast experience, she has never been promoted or seen a pay raise. She has been reassigned to a new show that will be produced by new employee, Quentin Quinn. Quentin is fresh out of school and is more interested in very long lunches that involve alcohol rather than actually working on scripts and starting the new show. Martha takes it upon herself to save the show and starts to write the scripts herself. Will Martha’s secret remain hidden?

My thoughts on this book:

• I loved this story. Martha was a great character. I loved how she is an independent woman of a certain age who has decided to take her future into her own hands.
• I also enjoyed the radio show itself. It was fun reading the different scenes of the show.
• There are also many Jane Austen references throughout the novel that I enjoyed. Martha is a fan of Austen and her works and references them often. She also references other favorite authors such as George Eliot and Charlotte Bronte.
• I loved how Martha brought daring real life scenarios into the radio screen plays such as menopause and having an Italian immigrant family as one of the main families.
• The radio broadcast has an archaic rule that if you are married, you can no longer work there. This had changed in England, but not in 1950s Australia.
• It was interesting as the book discussed how television was taking over at the time in England and the United States, but it has not yet gotten to Australia. I had not thought about how this would have changed an entire radio industry and potentially put people out of work.
• I related so much to Martha. Early in my career I had my own Quentin Quinn at work. While he enjoyed pay raises and promotions, I was doing the majority of his work while had long lunches, late starts, and would leave early. I was told, well he’s a married man. Then after I was married, well, he has a baby. It didn’t seem quite right.
• The ending was great and a real pick me up when all news seems so negative these days.
• I enjoyed the author’s note about real history in which this fictional story was set.
• There are a lot of great book club questions. This would be a great book club read!

Favorite Quote:
“But Martha was done with being polite. She was done with being overlooked and underestimated by men like Quentin Quinn, those young enough to be her son yet who acted as if she was the child.”
Overall, The Radio Hour by Victoria Purman is an excellent, inspirational, and intriguing historical fiction novel. Martha Berry is one of the best new characters in fiction. This was my first read of author Victoria Purman, but it won’t be my last. If you enjoyed, Lessons in Chemistry, I think you will enjoy The Radio Hour.

I enjoyed reading The Radio Hour by Victoria Purman. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

I loved this gem of a novel by @victoriapurmanauthor It will definitely be one of my favorite reads this year.

Set in the 1950s in Australia, this is the story of a fifty-year-old woman, Martha Berry, a secretary at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation who is assigned to work with a male producer on a new radio serial show. But the producer is an incompetent alcoholic and Martha secretly steps in as scriptwriter - doing all the work while her boss receives all the praise.

Martha was a wonderful character. She was smart, insightful, funny, vulnerable, and so lovable. I so enjoyed seeing a vibrant older person as a main character. I will not soon forget her. I also thought there was a great cast of secondary characters and enjoyed the themes of found family, female empowerment, and friendship.

The plot was wholly engaging. It was so interesting to read about scriptwriting and recording for a 1950s radio show (think a daytime soap opera) and about what it would have been like to be a woman working in that time period in a male-dominated profession. I was very surprised to learn about the “marriage bar” which existed in the Australian public service (including public broadcasting) until 1966. This law prevented married women from working - in effect, women had to choose between work and family. It was also eye opening to see the level of sexism and harassment that Martha and her female colleagues had to contend with from some male coworkers.

I was captivated by this charming, heartfelt novel. I was cheering on Martha and her friends throughout and had a huge smile as I was reading. I didn’t want it to end.

Highly recommended!!

Thanks to @harpermuse for this complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

One thing that I really love to do that helps me relax, is listen to Old Time Radio. Especially the Crimetime dramas like "Yours Truely, Johnny Dollar”, “A Man Called X”, “Nero Wolf” and “Sherlock Holmes”. Listening to the voice actors bringing the radio drama to life is wonderful.

Imagine my surprise to see that The Radio Hour is a book based upon one of my favourite pleasures.

I have been enjoying the story so much that I am going to be a little sad when it ends. The story centers around Martha, a woman who has been working at the radio station since it first begin, who doesn’t make waves and has accepted her life as a spinster.

She finds herself in a pickle when the new college hire, Quentin Quinn is hired to write a new 15min ABC drama series. She has to take matters into her hand and write the drama and give credit to her incompetent boss.

Martha has written a relateable drama, As the Sun Sets, that is loved by so many listeners. Martha showcases the limitations that had been put on women during the 1950s-60s. As the Sun Sets, touches on controversial issues like menopause, women working after wedlock, women in the workforce.

It is a great read and gives an eyeopening account of what it was like for women after the war and the harassment of men in the industry.

This is a 5 star read for those you love Australian stories and are looking for a unique story, then pick up a copy.

The audio for this book is amazing too. Well cast and narrated and worth a listen to on its own or pair it with the book.

#theradiohour #bookgram #ladysnuffy_reads #ladysnuffy #books #booknerd #endlessreading #NetGalley

I lost myself in this beautiful story. It felt like a warm hug and left me smiling. It is a story of women supporting other women in a world of men and helping them find a voice and be heard. Martha has been working for years at the radio network and is assigned to be the assistant to Quentin Quinn as he launches a new radio serial. He has no experience and no idea of how to make a radio serial so Martha steps in. As the show becomes popular he takes the credit. Will Martha continue to be invisible or will she finally be recognized for all she does? Martha is a character that I enjoyed and could identify with. She is resourceful and resilient and vital to the smooth running of the department she worked in even when she was invisible to the men in charge. The topics she brought to the radio show are still relevant and timely and still aren’t discussed much today. I highly recommend this book to readers that enjoy books about strong women making a difference in a male dominated world.

I enjoyed spending time in Sydney, Australia during the golden age of radio. The radio industry was dominated by men, but fully supported by women who were diligently working behind the scenes. Martha was one of these women. Martha was described as being smart and bookish. Hmmm…I think I would enjoy having her as a friend.

Quentin Quinn, the quintessential male chauvinist boss, made Martha’s life unpleasant at times and rather challenging at other times. But, our smart, bookish girl was definitely up for the challenge.

Humor and snark were balanced well with some very real issues that women were facing in 1956. The delightful and skilled writing made this book a joy to read.

Martha had found that always being overly polite caused one to be chronically ignored. Martha needed confidence, which was supplied by coworkers who became the friends that she had always needed. They celebrated the highs and supported each other through the lows. What a wonderful group of characters! And, through it all, Martha learned that truth triumphed over politeness.

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it!

I received complimentary copies of this book from Harper Muse through AustenProse and NetGalley. All thoughts expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Wow. I loved this book! I listened to parts and read parts on my kindle, which was a fun way to experience the book. I think my favorite was listening, because this book is all about Radio Programs after World War Two in Australia. As an American reader, I found the book fascinating and entertaining, especially because Australias laws seem to differ from that of the US.

The book also has a strong feminist narrative, asserting that women often do more work than men. It’s certainly thought provoking and makes you wonder that if women had been given more opportunities in the workplace at that time, how would history be written differently.

Content warning: A pattern of workplace sexual assault is described. The description was tasteful but it did not mince words of what the women felt.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance e-copy and listener copy of this book. A review was not required.

1956 Sydney could easily be mistaken for Victorian times - arcane rules for women, women who did so much taken for granted, ignored and treated with scant respect in the workforce.

Martha is an exemplary secretary and has been overlooked and her true potential never understood. Her work for a very young man with no skills at all who got the job through knowing someone spelt doom and pressure for Martha. True to her name she was not confrontational and just wanted to keep her job. However she turned the tables and created a record in the most unusual way in the office and this became the surprising and courageous part of the story, totally different to the meek and subservient manner she had been before.

The story dealt with radio in Australia and the huge effect it had on the general populace. The influence of simple radio shows was phenomenal and if it was used cleverly, could actually shape people’s attitudes and practices. It also marked the onset of television in Australia, and the trepidation that the radio world felt when it was started.

This was a brilliant topic handled very well in a very relatable story.