The Women's Pages

Tilly Galloway is a journalist on the Daily Herald in Sydney when Victory in the Pacific is declared. Tilly joins in the celebrations however her feelings of joy are tampered by not knowing what happened to her husband, Archie, last heard from in New Guinea in 1942.

This novel by Victoria Purman concerns the effects of the Second World War on Australians in Sydney as well as on those returning from overseas. The novel also deals with the livelihoods of women who worked during the war and were expected to return to their previous existence once the war ended. Working in newspapers, a man's world, Tilly faces discrimination as she tries to prove that women can write as well, or better, than some men. Another major theme in the book concerns the attempts of unions to gain better working conditions for workers, especially on the wharves and in factories. Much historical research has obviously gone into the writing of this novel where the author writes about the effects of war on a family from a poorer area of Sydney and the problems for returned soldiers in adapting once again to civilian life.

This is a novel of hope and resilience as Tilly and her friends and family rebuild their lives after the war.