Winner of a copy of The Women's Pages announced

Once again I would like to thank everyone who entered my giveaway for a copy of The Women's Pages. The giveaway closed on the 9th September and the winner was randomly selected (using Random org) from all correct entries. 

Congratulations to........   Jodie K

 To celebrate my biggest giveaway ever I am also giving away my lightly read copy and the winner of this second draw is...

                                     Kelly

The winners have been notified and have seven days to to provide a mailing address.

Please see my Giveaway tab for more chances to win great books. 

 

 

Book Review: The Women's Pages by Victoria Purman

The Women's Pages

by

Victoria Purman

 

Publisher: Harlequin Australia

Publication date: 2nd September 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages:416

RRP: $32.99AUD

Format read: Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book 

 

Sydney 1945 The war is over, the fight begins.

The war is over and so are the jobs (and freedoms) of tens of thousands of Australian women. The armaments factories are making washing machines instead of bullets and war correspondent Tilly Galloway has hung up her uniform and been forced to work on the women's pages of her newspaper - the only job available to her -- where she struggles to write advice on fashion and make up.

As Sydney swells with returning servicemen and the city bustles back to post-war life, Tilly finds her world is anything but normal. As she desperately waits for word of her prisoner-of-war husband, she begins to research stories about the lives of the underpaid and overworked women who live in her own city. Those whose war service has been overlooked; the freedom and independence of their war lives lost to them.
Tilly realises that for her the war may have ended, but the fight is just beginning...

 

My Review

 

The Women’s Pages is a heartfelt, emotional and inspiring look at women, and their role in society, during and after WWII.

Set in Sydney in 1946 immediately post WWII with events during the war told in backstory The Women’s Pages is narrated via Tilly Galloway, working at the Daily Herald whilst her husband is away fighting.

Through Tilly, her family and close friends Purman has shown the different impact the war had on women, with some husbands returning but forever damaged, whilst others for a variety of reasons not returning at all. Women who had been earning a wage, and for the first time having money of their own, were suddenly unemployed whilst older men were also losing their jobs to young, returning soldiers. It was a time of adjustment for all and for some it wasn’t the dream they had envisioned.

The scenes around Sydney city and The Rocks, the war-time hardships and post-war celebrations on the city streets, were brought to life by Purman’s wonderful descriptions. 

With many mentions of the political climate and newsworthy events of the time the story is solidly set in it’s time frame.

Tilly comes from the wrong side of town but through perseverance and intelligence she rises from secretary to journalist however she is still never treated the same as the male journalists. She befriends fellow journalist George Cooper a forward thinking man, and there were few of them back then, who is happy to teach her the ropes of writing a good story.

Tilly and best friend Mary are waiting for their husbands to return from the war. They live on hopes and dreams and their anguish is heartfelt and real. 

Tilly’s sister Martha, with three boys to bring up is barely surviving on her meagre pay. She is helped often by her mother Elsie, who also offers meals and a helping hand to all local families, ill or down on their luck. 

Purman introduces the ongoing battle of the waterside workers through Tilly’s father, Stan, a staunch union man who worked hard and fought hard for these men to receive a fair days pay for a fair days work.

Purman has delivered a heartfelt story. The characters are likeable, their emotions and dreams are genuine and relatable. Through these characters we get a rounded view of the struggle for many during and after the war.

The Women’s Pages is a thoroughly researched novel that had me spellbound from cover to cover.

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author  

 

Photo: Goodreads

Victoria Purman is an award-nominated, bestselling Australian author. She is a regular guest at writers' festivals, has been nominated for a number of readers choice awards and was a judge in the fiction category for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature. Her most recent novels are The Three Miss Allens (2016), The Last of the Bonegilla Girls (2018) and Australian bestseller The Land Girls (2019).

 

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

                                 Australian Women Writers Challenge #AWW2020

                                 Historical Fiction Challenge  #2020HistFicReadingChallenge

 

Friday Freebie Book Giveaway: The Women's Pages by Victoria Purman

 I was hoping to have my copy finished so I could post a review with this giveaway but alas that isn't to be the case although I am enjoying Tilly's Story immensely.

 

The Women's Pages

by

Victoria Purman

 

 Sydney 1945 The war is over, the fight begins.

The war is over and so are the jobs (and freedoms) of tens of thousands of Australian women. The armaments factories are making washing machines instead of bullets and war correspondent Tilly Galloway has hung up her uniform and been forced to work on the women's pages of her newspaper - the only job available to her - where she struggles to write advice on fashion and make-up.

As Sydney swells with returning servicemen and the city bustles back to post-war life, Tilly finds her world is anything but normal. As she desperately waits for word of her prisoner-of-war husband, she begins to research stories about the lives of the underpaid and overworked women who live in her own city. Those whose war service has been overlooked; the freedom and independence of their war lives lost to them.

Meanwhile Tilly's waterside worker father is on strike, and her best friend Mary is struggling to cope with the stranger her own husband has become since being liberated from Changi a broken man. As strikes rip the country apart and the news from abroad causes despair, matters build to a heart-rending crescendo. Tilly realises that for her the war may have ended, but the fight is just beginning...

 

I have one paperback copy to give away. Entry is to Australian addresses only and closes at midnight on Wednesday 9th September.

 

This giveaway is now closed and the winner was ...... Jodie K

 

Mailbox Monday & Life This Week - August 31st

 

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Life This Week is a meme created by Denyse Whelan Blogs where bloggers share snaps of what is currently happening in their lives.

Happy Monday!

🎕 🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕🎕

I'm so excited that it is officially the last day of winter today. We have been having some beautiful days but the nights have still been a little cold. I am not a lover of the cold weather and I'm happy to be looking forward to warm, even hot, days ahead.

🏥🏥🏥🏥🏥🏥🏥

Ditto was again rushed to emergency last week with severe asthma and a double chest infection. His mother stayed with him and had to carry the burden of worry alone as due to covid-19 restrictions no one was allowed to visit, not even his father and sister. The doctors were amazing, so I've been told, and Ditto was a little trooper through-out the whole ordeal. He is home again now and running riot.

 

Our garden is beginning to bloom and we spent the last weekend gardening and planting new plants in the garden beds. We are also having a go at beans and tomatoes. We have had a little success with them before. 

We saw a very cute family of ducks on our walk during the week.

Books received over the last two weeks:

The mail has finally come through. Books received this week.

 

 

I am looking forward to bringing you my reviews of the children's picture books from Empowering Resources. They are a publisher of high-quality children's picture books and junior novels that nurture, educate and empower children. Their aim is to encourage meaningful conversations in homes and in classrooms.

 

Book Review: The Night Whistler by Greg Woodland

The Night Whistler

by

Greg Woodland

 

 

Publisher: Text Publishing

Publication date: 4th August 2020

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Pages: 400

Format read: uncorrected eBook

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

 

About the book

 

It’s 1966. Hal and his little brother, newly arrived in Moorabool with their parents, are exploring the creek near their new home when they find the body of a dog.

Not just dead, but recently killed.
 

Not just killed, but mutilated.
 

Constable Mick Goodenough, recently demoted from his city job as a detective, is also new in town—and one of his dogs has gone missing. He’s experienced enough to know what it means when someone tortures an animal to death: it means they’re practising. So when Hal’s mother starts getting anonymous calls—a man whistling, then hanging up—Goodenough, alone among the Moorabool cops, takes her seriously.


The question is: will that be enough to keep her safe?
 

Nostalgic yet clear-eyed, simmering with small-town menace, Greg Woodland’s wildly impressive debut populates the rural Australia of the 1960s with memorable characters and almost unbearable tension. 

My review

  

Greg Woodland has delivered a gritty, dark and nostalgic, small-town crime thriller in his debut, The Night Whistler.

Set in country Australia during the summer of 1966. Twelve year old Hal and his family have recently moved to Moorabool for his father's job as Sales Rep for Prime Foods. 

At a time when kids jumped on their bikes and spent their days looking for adventure, Hal and his brother come across the body of a mutilated dog. 

Mick Goodenough has also recently arrived in Moorabool. Mick is on probabtion, demoted and sent to this small backwater town as punishment. After finding his pet dog mutilated and then being brushed off by his superior Mick decides to do some investigating of his own. He knows animal mutilation is a predecessor to murdering people. As Mick tries to investigate the killing he is stopped at every turn by his superior.

 Hal's mother starts to receive anonymous phone calls from a man whistling a tune. As Hal's father is away with work Hal assumes the role of head of the family and to protect his mother and brother he is determined to expose The Whistler.

The Night Whistler is filled with police cover-ups, bullying, racism, shonky council dealings, lazy policing and red-herrings making this small-town crime thriller a compelling read that is at times nostalgic and at other times spine-chilling.

NOTE: I do believe there is a much anticipated sequel in the offing.  

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author 

Photo: Goodreads

Greg Woodland is a writer, director, script developer and consultant working in Australian film and TV. He fronts an alt-country band called The Cheating Hearts and lives in Sydney with his wife and son. The Night Whistler is his debut novel.

  

 

 

 

 

 

Challenges entered: Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

 

Book Review: Finding Eadie by Caroline Beecham

Finding Eadie 

by

Caroline Beecham

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication date: 2nd July 2020

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 368

RRP: $29.99AUD

Format read: Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

About the book

London 1943: War and dwindling resources are taking their toll on the staff of Partridge Press. The pressure is on to create new books to distract readers from the grim realities of the war, but Partridge's rising star, Alice Cotton, leaves abruptly and cannot be found.

Alice's secret absence is to birth her child, and although her baby's father remains unnamed, Alice's mother promises to help her raise her tiny granddaughter, Eadie. Instead, she takes a shocking action.

Theo Bloom is employed by the American office of Partridge. When he is tasked with helping the British publisher overcome their challenges, Theo has his own trials to face before he can return to New York to marry his fiancee.

Inspired by real events during the Second World War, Finding Eadie is a story about the triumph of three friendships bound by hope, love, secrets and the belief that books have the power to change lives.

My review

Finding Eadie, set during WWII, highlights the importance of books and reading especially during times of hardship.

“It’s important to carry on giving people some much-needed escape from the cruel realities of war.”

“They are bound to one another and their country and the only freedom they still have is in the landscape of their minds”

Centred around Alice Cotton and the publishing company she worked for in London, Caroline Beecham brings to the fore the plight of women at a time when outward appearance was very important and unmarried mothers were scorned and vilified. A time when women went away, and lied about nonexistent husbands, to have their babies where no one knew them.

The men in the story were supportive but I noticed their surprise when they realised that Alice was intelligent and could give useful effective input into the publishing business. I found this aspect very real and it’s good to see how far we have come from the archaic outlook of the 1940’s.

Two plot lines run through Finding Eadie. Firstly the hardship suffered by businesses, especially publishing houses with rationing of paper meant a reduction in books being published and the London fires having destroyed almost all their printing equipment. The second storyline is the ostracization of unmarried mothers, baby farms, illegal adoptions and the women working to have laws changed to protect these babies.

The story travels from London to New York where we see the American side of Partridge Publishing. Leo Bloom is sent from New York to the London office to check through their accounts with a view to selling the London office. I loved the nostalgic mentions of blocks of book shops and how important books were for people’s mental health and it was sad to learn about the demise of a lot of these shops. These things are still extremely relevant, especially this year when books are being used to entertain and distract as we are isolating.

I was immediately invested in the characters and fascinated by the working of the book industry. This is the kind of story I want! A book I’m so engrossed in that the pages turn effortlessly. A story of true friendship as Alice’s friends support her at a time when lesser friends would have shunned her.

Finding Eadie is a feel good read, all nicely wrapped up at the end leaving a permanent smile on my face.

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Photo: Goodreads

Caroline Beecham is a novelist, writer and producer. She is the author of three books: the bestselling novel Maggie's Kitchen, Eleanor's Secret and Finding Eadie. Her debut novel was shortlisted for Booktopia's Best Historical Fiction in 2016 and nominated for Book of the Year and Caroline herself was named Best New Authro by AusRom Today.

She has worked in documentary, film and drama and discovered that she loves to write fiction and to share lesser known histories: in particular, those of pioneering women whose lives transport us back to the past, yet speak to us now.

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge
and the Australian Women Writers challenge 

and the Passages to the Past Historical Fiction Challenge

Book Review: Rico Stays by Ed Duncan

Rico Stays 

by

Ed Duncan

Publisher: Terminal Velocity

Publication date: May 2020

Series: Pigeon-Blood Red #3

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Pages: 184

Format read: paperback

Source: Courtesy of the author via Book Publicity Services

About the book

After enforcer Richard “Rico” Sanders stepped in to protect his girlfriend from a local mob boss’s hot-headed nephew, all hell broke loose.

When the smoke cleared, the nephew had vanished, but three goons who had tried to help him lay dying where they’d stood. Fighting for his life, Rico was alive but gravely wounded.

Out of the hospital but not fully recovered, he needed a place to crash – a place where he wouldn’t be found by men who surely would be looking. A place like the cabin owned by lawyer Paul Elliott, whose life Rico had saved more than once. Trouble was, Paul’s girlfriend hadn’t forgotten Rico’s dark history. Or Paul’s fascination with him.

Using Rico’s girlfriend as bait, vengeful killers soon would be coming for him. The only question was whether he would face them alone or with help from Paul.

My review

Rico, hit-man for hire, is back in full force in the third and final instalment of Ed Duncan's Pigeon-Blood Red trilogy.

Rico finds himself on the wrong side of the local crime boss after a good samaritan act goes terribly wrong. There are three men dead and Rico ends up in hospital. He now has two men looking for him on a path of revenge.

"He was a killer with a conscience...... he only killed people who 'had it coming'."

Rico always gave his adversaries a chance. Whether they took it or not was up to them. 

Rico turns to acquaintance (Rico doesn't have friends) Paul Elliot to help him hide out while he recovers from a gunshot wound.

Rico Stays is another fabulous read in the Pigeon-Blood Red trilogy. There is a lot of character development in this story and we get to know not only Rico's past but also Paul's. The shoot-outs are still there but the characters take centre stage. Paul Elliot features more in this story with a high school reunion and a hook-up with an old flame ending with Paul contemplating what he really wants from life and love.

This can be read as a stand alone with snippets of backstory filling the reader in on previous events. However you will want to read the first two books because Rico is freaking awesome.

The story ramps up to an explosive ending and Rico just may have found his first real friend in Paul. And I could easily see that Paul has a bit of a man crush on Rico.

Rico Stays has everything I have come to expect from Ed Duncan; drama, suspense and a touch of humour.

4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Photo: Goodreads

Ed is a graduate of Oberlin College and Northwestern University Law School. He was a partner at a national law firm in Cleveland, Ohio for many years. He is the original author of a highly regarded legal treatise entitled Ohio Insurance Coverage, for which he provided annual editions from 2008 through 2012. Rico Stays is the third novel in the Pigeon-Blood Red Trilogy which began with Pigeon-Blood Red and was followed by The Last Straw.Ed, originally from Gary, Indiana, lives outside Cleveland.