Hello and welcome to another BotW post – this week we’re in saga territory with Sophie Green’s The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club, which came out at the start of last month, but which I only got time to sit down properly to 10 days ago. It was nearly BotW last week, but I didn’t finish it until Monday morning after my weekend at work and so I got to save it! And after last week’s pick celebrated female friendship for middle grade readers, this does the same for grown ups.
The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club (such a long title, but I forgive it) is set in Australia’s Northern Territory in the late 1970s and early 1980s and follows Sybil, Kate, Sallyanne, Della and Rita. Sybil came to Fairvale station 25 years ago, but she remembers how strange it felt compared to her life as a nurse in Sydney, so when her son brings his new wife Kate from Britain she comes up with the book club as an idea to adjust and make friends. Sallyanne is stuck with a difficult husband who’s turned to drink while she brings up their three small children. Della is a transplant from Texas at the next station over – she left her father’s ranch to find some freedom and her own place in the world. Rita has been friends with Sybil since they were young nurses together and is now working for the Flying Doctors service in Alice Springs. Across the course of the book all four women face trials and difficulties and find support and friendship from the rest of the group as well as finding someone to talk about books with.
I absolutely loved this book, which seemed to me like almost a what-happened-next to the outback life that I had read about in Nevil Shute’s A Town Like Alice. I read that back in my teenage years – it’s one of my mum’s favourite books and although it’s all good, my favourite part of it is the third part, that deals with Jean’s life in Willstown. And Fairvale Ladies Book Club shows you another wild and inhospitable part of Australia that is almost inconceivable to me in its remoteness and challenges. I loved reading about Fairvale and the town of Katherine and wanted to be friends with all the women. I’ve read quite a few of the books that the women read for the club – but this has reminded me that I still have Thorn Birds sitting on my kindle waiting to be read and has also given me some ideas for more reading about the Australian outback and a way of life that seems almost impossible to believe in.
I really enjoyed reading this and it brought a tear to my eye more than once. I think it would make an excellent beach read if you’re getting to the time of year where you’re thinking of holiday books – and as it’s over 400 pages long it would last a while as long as you don’t read as fast as I do! It would also make a great book club pick – there are plenty of things to talk about here.
My copy came from NetGalley, but you should be able to get a copy from all good bookshops – like Foyles, Book Depository and Big Green Bookshop. The Kindle and Kobo editions are already a bargain at £1.99 (at time of writing) but it cropped up as a Kindle Daily Deal about two weeks ago, so that may come around again if you’re not in a hurry and have a system for keeping track of these things.
And if you’ve got any recommendations for books set in the remote bits of Australia – or other remote parts of the world – let me know in the comments.
Happy Reading!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 