The Women in Black by Madeleine St John

This book was written quite some time ago by a classmate of people like Clive James, Germaine Greer and Bruce Beresford. It’s a witty, entertaining little social commentary describing the lives of four women who work in what was possibly Mark Foys in Sydney selling women’s clothing. I liked it because it reminded me so much of my childhood – the way anyone who was not Anglo-Aussie was described as ‘continental’, the sexist and moralistic attitudes that while we lived with them were pretty stifling but in retrospect are quaintly amusing, the expressions that have disappeared from the language now. It’s an Australian version of a Nancy Mitford novel, not great literature but delightful all the same. The character of Magda the Continental is memorable indeed. 3 ½ stars