Start reading The Women In Black on your Kindle in under a minute. Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

 
 
 

Try it free

Sample the beginning of this book for free

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Read books on your computer or other mobile devices with our FREE Kindle Reading Apps.
The Women In Black
 
 
Share your own customer images

The Women In Black [Kindle Edition]

Madeleine St John (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews) |
Print List Price: £8.99
Kindle Price: £4.99 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: £4.00 (44%)
Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.
This price was set by the publisher

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £4.99   -- --
Hardcover, Large Print £16.99   -- --
Paperback £7.19   -- --
Audio, CD, Audiobook --   -- --
Audio Download, Unabridged £13.72 or Free with Audible.co.uk 30-day free trial

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product Description

Book Description

* A lost Australian classic, from the Booker shortlisted author, Madelaine St John

Product Description

On the second floor of the famous F. G. Goode department store, in Ladies' Cocktail Frocks, the women in black are girding themselves for the Christmas rush. Among the staff are Patty Williams with her wayward husband Frank, the sweet but unlucky Fay, faithful Mrs Jacob of the measuring tape, and Lisa, the new Sales Assistant (Temporary), who is waiting for the results of her Leaving Certificate. Across the floor and beyond the arch, Lisa will meet the glamorous Continental refugee, Magda, guardian of the rose-pink cave of Model Gowns.With the lightest touch and the most tender of comic instincts, Madeleine St John conjures a vanished summer of innocence. THE WOMEN IN BLACK is a great novel, a lost Australian classic.
See all Product Description

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 284 KB
  • Print Length: 209 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0349123381
  • Publisher: Hachette Digital (2 Jun 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B0050C88HK
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #98,510 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

    •  Would you like to give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Madeleine St. John
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Madeleine St. John Page

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(8)
(3)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Customer Reviews

4 star
0
3 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Fifites feelgood 1 Feb 2011
By Cloggie Downunder TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
The Women in Black is first of only four published novels by Madeleine St John. This edition includes a perceptive introduction by her contemporary, Bruce Beresford, and an obituary by Christopher Potter. Under the guise of a story about the staff of the Ladies' Cocktail section at F.G. Goode's (the Women in Black), St John takes us back to Sydney in the late 1950's. St John manages, with very few words, to bring back the feel of those times, the ideas and attitudes, in full living colour. Nostalgia overtakes the reader at the mention of prices in guineas, frocks (as opposed to dresses), men and women in hats, shops closing at 5.30, local calls for four pennies, the school Intermediate and Leaving certificate results posted at the newspaper offices.........the list goes on. With mention of "reffos" and "continentals", and salami as a novel food, Sydney of the late 50's is perfectly depicted. The dialogue is so authentic, it has the reader alternately laughing out loud and cringing ("......don't say anythink......"). St John's characters are convincing and easy to love. It was such fun to be a fly on the wall at F.G.Goode's (which was fairly obviously David Jones) and how lovely to realise that those formidable Women in Black were real people with the same insecurities as the rest of us!
The Women in Black has been aptly described as an Australian Classic. It truly was a delight to read!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Fifties feelgood read 24 Oct 2010
By Cloggie Downunder TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
The Women in Black is first of only four published novels by Madeleine St John. This edition includes a perceptive introduction by her contemporary, Bruce Beresford, and an obituary by Christopher Potter. Under the guise of a story about the staff of the Ladies' Cocktail section at F.G. Goode's (the Women in Black), St John takes us back to Sydney in the late 1950's. St John manages, with very few words, to bring back the feel of those times, the ideas and attitudes, in full living colour. Nostalgia overtakes the reader at the mention of prices in guineas, frocks (as opposed to dresses), men and women in hats, shops closing at 5.30, local calls for four pennies, the school Intermediate and Leaving certificate results posted at the newspaper offices.........the list goes on. With mention of "reffos" and "continentals", and salami as a novel food, Sydney of the late 50's is perfectly depicted. The dialogue is so authentic, it has the reader alternately laughing out loud and cringing ("......don't say anythink......"). St John's characters are convincing and easy to love. It was such fun to be a fly on the wall at F.G.Goode's (which was fairly obviously David Jones) and how lovely to realise that those formidable Women in Black were real people with the same insecurities as the rest of us!
The Women in Black has been aptly described as an Australian Classic. It truly was a delight to read!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  2 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Sydney life, 1960 10 July 2009
By Kate Oszko - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Set in the 1960s in a fictional department store in Sydney, this delightful book is pitch perfect.

The story focuses on the women working in Ladies' Cocktail Frocks and in Ladies' Evening Frocks sections of the store. The demarcation relates not only the class of customer, but also to the Aussies (Mrs Williams, Fay and Miss Baines, Patty) in Cocktail Frocks and the very Continental Magda in Evening Frocks. Enter Lesley/Lisa, a naive young thing doing a short stint during the holidays after completing her Leaving Certificate.

We learn a little of their private lives and aspirations, and the attitudes of the time (especially how men and women relate to each other, and the education of women) are spot on.

If you didn't live through this era, this book will make you feel as though you did. And for those of us who DID live through it, it is a wonderful time capsule - but with the addition of sophisticated wit and humour. Very good
fifties feelgood 2 Feb 2011
By Cloggie Downunder - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
The Women in Black is first of only four published novels by Madeleine St John. This edition includes a perceptive introduction by her contemporary, Bruce Beresford, and an obituary by Christopher Potter. Under the guise of a story about the staff of the Ladies' Cocktail section at F.G. Goode's (the Women in Black), St John takes us back to Sydney in the late 1950's. St John manages, with very few words, to bring back the feel of those times, the ideas and attitudes, in full living colour. Nostalgia overtakes the reader at the mention of prices in guineas, frocks (as opposed to dresses), men and women in hats, shops closing at 5.30, local calls for four pennies, the school Intermediate and Leaving certificate results posted at the newspaper offices.........the list goes on. With mention of "reffos" and "continentals", and salami as a novel food, Sydney of the late 50's is perfectly depicted. The dialogue is so authentic, it has the reader alternately laughing out loud and cringing ("......don't say anythink......"). St John's characters are convincing and easy to love. It was such fun to be a fly on the wall at F.G.Goode's (which was fairly obviously David Jones) and how lovely to realise that those formidable Women in Black were real people with the same insecurities as the rest of us!
The Women in Black has been aptly described as an Australian Classic. It truly was a delight to read!
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject








i.e., each title must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Privacy Statement Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Delivery Information Amazon Media EU S.à r.l. GB Returns & Exchanges