Madeleine St John. (2020). The Women in Black: A Novel. Scribner.

Madeleine St John. 2020. The Women in Black: A Novel. Scribner.

Madeleine St John, The Women in Black: A Novel. Scribner, 2020.

Madeleine St John. The Women in Black: A Novel. Scribner, 2020.

OverDrive Product Record

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title

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1. • value: Friendship
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4. • value: novels
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8. • value: Mother's Day
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14. • value: Literary gifts
15. • value: books for mom
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27. • value: best gifts for mom
28. • value: npr best books
29. • value: best books 2020
30. • value: quarantine reads
31. • value: uplifting novels
32. • value: marvelous mrs. maisel
33. • value: Australian novelists
34. • value: novels set in 1950s
35. • value: books to read during quarantine
36. • value: quarantine fiction
37. • value: books to cheer up
38. • value: cheerful books
39. • value: australian female writers
40. • value: novels about women in the workplace
41. • value: ladies in black

creators

1. • role: Author
   • fileAs: St John, Madeleine
   • bioText: Madeleine St. John was born in Sydney in 1941. In 1965 she moved to the United States and attended Stanford, and later moved to England to attend Cambridge University. In 1993, she published her debut novel in Australia, The Women in Black. She is author of three other novels including The Essence of the Thing, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. St. John was the first Australian woman to receive this honor. Madeleine St. John died in 2006.
   • name: Madeleine St John

publishDate

2020-02-11T00:00:00-05:00

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title

The Women in Black

fullDescription

"The book I most often give as a gift to cheer people up." —Hilary Mantel

"Tart, beguiling, witty and compassionate, Madeleine St. John's novel is a literary boost for the spirits." —Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air

"A deceptively smart comic gem." –The New York Times Book Review

"Witty and delicious." –People
The women in black, so named for the black frocks they wear while working at Goode's department store, are busy selling ladies' dresses during the holiday rush. But they somehow find time to pursue other goals...

Patty, in her mid-thirties, has been working at Goode's for years. Her husband, Frank, eats a steak for dinner every night, watches a few minutes of TV, and then turns in. Patty yearns for a baby, but Frank is always too tired for that kind of thing.

Sweet, unlucky Fay wants to settle down with a nice man, but somehow nice men don't see her as marriage material.

Glamorous Magda runs the high-end gowns department. A Slovenian émigré, Magda is cultured and continental and hopes to open her own boutique one day.

Lisa, a clever and shy teenager, takes a job at Goode's during her school break. Lisa wants to go to university and dreams of becoming a poet, but her father objects to both notions.

By the time the last marked-down dress is sold, all of their lives will be forever changed.

A pitch-perfect comedy of manners set during a pivotal era, and perfect for fans of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Women in Black conjures the energy of a city on the cusp of change and is a testament to the timeless importance of female friendship.

reviews

1. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     November 15, 2019
     In this witty little gem of a tale, reminiscent of Barbara Pym and Muriel Spark, three women working at a posh department store see their lives turn important corners while a fourth lends a helping hand. "At the end of a hot November day Miss Baines and Mrs. Williams of the Ladies' Frocks Department at Goode's were complaining to each other while they changed out of their black frocks before going home." The opening sentence of Australian novelist St John's (A Pure Clear Light, 1996, etc.) first novel, originally published in 1993, instantly transports readers back to a more genteel era. The setting is Sydney, the era post-World War II, and the cast of characters a mix of middle- and working-class locals and bohemian refugees. Teenager Lesley Miles, an aspiring poet who prefers to be called Lisa, lands a Christmas job at Goode's while waiting to see if she has passed the Leaving Certificate exam and qualified for a university place. Employed partly in Ladies' Cocktail, she is also seconded to Model Gowns, where she meets Magda ("no one could even try to pronounce her frightful Continental surname"), a formidable, sensuous, shrewd figure whose social gatherings will introduce Lisa and Fay Baines to a new world of sophistication and possibility. Patty Williams, meanwhile, is the character with the most intractable problem, namely her husband, Frank, whose dim libido leaves her despairing at the unlikelihood of children. St John, who died in 2006, has created a meld of New World naiveté and old European wisdom, its simplicity punctured with enduring savvy: "The point is they are happy together now. It is the only possible beginning. The middle and end must take care of themselves as they always do. Or not, as the case may be." A quirky period fairy tale laced with female networks and glamorous gowns.

     COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

2. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     January 1, 2020
     This quirky peek into the lives of four Australian women as they sell women's clothing at Goode's Department store is predictable, but sweet. Patty, the unhappily married middle-aged veteran of Goode's, experiences a twist in her personal life that makes focusing at work more difficult, while Fay dreams of Mr. Right as she wastes time with Misters Wrong. Worldly and glamorous Magda enjoys the finer things in life with her husband and traveler friends as she peddles the high-end gowns. Then Lisa arrives, who is young and bright like a penny waiting to be lucky as she takes all opportunities that come her way. Funny and light, this story moves quickly as each character navigates the 1950s-era challenges of being a working woman in a male-dominated society with limited options for the happily ever after they all strive for. The dialogue is snappy and full of vintage Australian terms, such as the practice of sizing clothes using an alpha system. Perfect for lovers of chick lit with a dash of romance and historical fiction for good measure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

3. • premium: True
   • source:
   • content:

     November 15, 2019
     In this witty little gem of a tale, reminiscent of Barbara Pym and Muriel Spark, three women working at a posh department store see their lives turn important corners while a fourth lends a helping hand. "At the end of a hot November day Miss Baines and Mrs. Williams of the Ladies' Frocks Department at Goode's were complaining to each other while they changed out of their black frocks before going home." The opening sentence of Australian novelist St John's (A Pure Clear Light, 1996, etc.) first novel, originally published in 1993, instantly transports readers back to a more genteel era. The setting is Sydney, the era post-World War II, and the cast of characters a mix of middle- and working-class locals and bohemian refugees. Teenager Lesley Miles, an aspiring poet who prefers to be called Lisa, lands a Christmas job at Goode's while waiting to see if she has passed the Leaving Certificate exam and qualified for a university place. Employed partly in Ladies' Cocktail, she is also seconded to Model Gowns, where she meets Magda ("no one could even try to pronounce her frightful Continental surname"), a formidable, sensuous, shrewd figure whose social gatherings will introduce Lisa and Fay Baines to a new world of sophistication and possibility. Patty Williams, meanwhile, is the character with the most intractable problem, namely her husband, Frank, whose dim libido leaves her despairing at the unlikelihood of children. St John, who died in 2006, has created a meld of New World naivet� and old European wisdom, its simplicity punctured with enduring savvy: "The point is they are happy together now. It is the only possible beginning. The middle and end must take care of themselves as they always do. Or not, as the case may be." A quirky period fairy tale laced with female networks and glamorous gowns.

     COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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"The book I most often give as a gift to cheer people up." —Hilary Mantel

"Tart, beguiling, witty and compassionate, Madeleine St. John's novel is a literary boost for the spirits." —Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air

"A deceptively smart comic gem." –The New York Times Book Review

"Witty and delicious." –People
The women in black, so named for the black frocks they wear while working at Goode's department store, are busy selling ladies' dresses during the holiday rush. But they somehow find time to pursue other goals...

Patty, in her mid-thirties, has been working at Goode's for years. Her husband, Frank, eats a steak for dinner every night, watches a few minutes of TV, and then turns in. Patty yearns for a baby, but Frank is always too tired for that kind of thing.

Sweet, unlucky Fay wants to settle down with a nice man, but somehow nice men don't see her as marriage...

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