The Women in Black
by Madeleine St John
A classic novel by a superb observer of contemporary manners, The Women in Black illuminates on every page the extraordinariness of ordinary lives.It's Sydney in the late 1950s, and the Ladies' Cocktail Frocks department of the famous F.G. Goode department store is bracing itself for the Christmas rush. The women that make up its staff-in their regulation black dresses-are run off their feet, but there's just enough time left to dream and scheme. By the time the last marked-down frock has been sold, most of the staff will have been launched into different careers.'Seductive, hilarious, brilliantly observed, this novel shimmers with wit and tenderness.' Helen Garner