Review: A Woman’s Work by Victoria Purman

Title: A Woman’s Work

Published: 5th April 2023, HQ Fiction

Status: Read April 2023 courtesy Harlequin HarperCollins Australia

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My Thoughts:

A rich portrait of motherhood, societal expectations and self determination set in post WWII Australia, A Woman’s Work is an engaging novel from best selling author Victoria Purman.

Launched in 1933, offering feature articles on lifestyle, home decoration, cooking, fashion and beauty, parenthood, health and wellbeing, and current affairs as well as serialised stories, advice columns, and various competitions, by the 1950’s the Australian Women’s Weekly was the nation’s most popular household magazine. In A Woman’s Work, a competition run by the periodical searching for original recipes sparks unexpected but welcome change for Purman’s two main characters.

War widow Ivy Quinn is not much of a cook, dinner for her and her twelve year old son, Raymond, is usually no more complicated than eggs and baked beans on toast after her long days as a receptionist in a doctor’s surgery. The generous prize money offered by the Women’s Weekly competition provides an incentive for Ivy to improve her skills in the kitchen, and leads to a surprising new relationship.

Cooking meals for her family is simply another draining daily chore for exhausted wife and mother of five, Kathleen O’Grady. She appreciates that her husband, a mechanic, works hard to support them, but she increasingly resents his indifference to her own needs. Though initially reluctant to enter the Women’s Weekly competition, Kathleen discovers the task could be a gateway to reclaiming her forgotten hopes and dreams.

A Woman’s Work compassionately explores the constrained social expectations of women, and men, in mid 20th century Australia. It’s a realistic reminder as to how recently traditional gender roles were strictly enforced, and how little agency mothers in particular had over their lives.

Having raised my own large family I strongly empathised with Kathleen and her mixed feelings of love, resentment, and guilt as she struggles with the personal sacrifices she feels pressured to make to be perceived as the ‘ideal’ wife and mother. Ivy’s concerns about how she is seen as a working single mother, and her worries about her son’s masculinity, are saddening. Both characters are well realised and their journey’s are heartening.

Purman also touches on a number of provocative issues in A Woman’s Work including rape, domestic violence, homosexuality, contraception, and abortion. Though change has been wrought over time, the legacy of shame and fear still lingers today.

The era and setting of A Woman’s Work is deftly recreated. Recipes of the time drawn from actual entries to the competition preface several chapters. I did a little reading about the history of the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine (which is now a monthly periodical) and found it interesting, particularly with regards to how individual editors over time influenced the content of the magazine and therefore contributed to society’s attitudes about the role of women.

An engaging historical novel, I enjoyed reading A Woman’s Work and I am left thankful for the strides we have made since.

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