March book.

My book came yesterday and I was thrilled to get a HARDBACK! I've started reading it and should finish soonish and I am just wondering what last year's book was as it seems to have an Australian theme?

Thanks very much to Grannybear for sending me her copy after she had read it. Overall I enjoyed the book, though certain parts, such as Lachlan's son being taken for adoption was somewhat farfetched. A toddler would not have taken too kindly to being taken from his mother into a family he was unfamiliar with! I can appreciate the weather conditions as described, having recently visited the area, though only in the dry. Very harsh conditions to endure.
I felt that a map of the area at the front of the book may have been helpful.
If anyone else who missed out on a copy would like to read it, I we would be happy to send it on.

If anyone wants to read this book it is offered today on Bookbub which I subscribe to (it is free), for 99p

I loved the descriptions of this vast country, very evocative.
I was less impressed with the characters, virtually the whole of the story was seen from the women's point of view, which would have been ok had there been the odd man's perspective on things as well. After all it was a book about women but it just felt very one sided.
I would have liked to see the situation with Joe's elder brother clarified and seen his take on it too.
I disagree with many of the previous comments about how racism couldnt have been as bad anymore in the late70s or early 80s as described. The topic hardly came up apart from the occasional appearance of Stan who worked as a stockman.
I certainly remember reading about the horrific living conditions of the local indigenous population at the time. The aboriginals had a very raw deal, so no I don't think that was out of place.
I enjoyed the book as a fairly light read. Happy ending for most of them..

I too have found it hard to get into, but I think that is mostly my fault.
I'm reading in short bursts and I think that I would be better to spend a whole afternoon, getting into it. I keep going back to read what I have already read.
I agree with the part about old fashioned attitudes, it reminded me of Australian dramas, like Dr Blake and the Thorn Birds.
It could also be that I prefer crime novels and the pace is not fast enough for me.
I too feel as if I sound ungrateful, I'm not really.
I'm going to give it another go, as some posters have persevered and enjoyed it.

I apologise for the late review. The book arrived as I was about to go away - and it was too big to go in the case! - so I was really looking forward to starting it when I got home.

Unfortunately, I haven't enjoyed the book. I must admit I'm not yet halfway through it, but don't think I'm going to get to the end, unless I just skim through to see if anything actually happens. The last two GN books were so good I couldn't bear to put them down, but I just can't summon up any enthusiasm for this one. None of the characters have been fleshed out enough for me to care about them, and the story seems to be going nowhere. I have however enjoyed the description of the scenery and learning a little about everyday life in the Northern Territories.

I apologise for the negative feedback, which seems very ungrateful when I am always so pleased to received a Book Club book!

My question to the author would be: The attitudes in the novel, as another poster has said, seem very old-fashioned for the 1970s and more appropriate to the 1950s. Do you think they were typical of Australia at that time, or just particular to this group of women?

I have just finished reading 'The Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club', which I found very hard to get into the storyline until I reached at least the 10th chapter. The book had good descriptions of the landscape and settings.

However, I found the storyline lacking in depth, with only the thread of Sybil holding it together. The characters did not give enough of themselves, and the storyline jumping from one character to the other meant the flow of the story was disjointed.

The end of the book left me with a feeling that something was missing, There did not feel to be a conclusion or even an opening to lead on to a further book.

I took a while to get into this book but after a couple of chapters I didn't want to,put it down. I've enjoyed all the different characters in the book, th descriptions of the land in the outback and peoples different lives. Most enjoyable.

I found this book really hard to get into, and had to persevere in order to get to the end. It was pleasant enough, but as other people have commented, the characters lacked depth.
I really don't know very much about life in Australia, most of my knowledge coming from my then teenage children's
obsession with Neighbours ( the Scott and Charlene era), and this story developed rather like a soap opera. The neat solution to the problem of childlessness, and the pantomime villain missing son added to this feel. I do feel I am being rather harsh, and maybe some of this is because the previous two Gransnet choices ( Anatomy of a scandal, and Three things about Elsie) were so strong.

I have two questions; why did the author choose as the to title ' The inaugural meeting of the Fairville ladies book club' when the story was really about how its development contributed to the friendship of its members, and why was that particular era chosen ?

I started the book but am afraid I didn't finish it - the characters seemed very stereotypical 'Aussie outback', and it was written as if everything had to be explained to the reader, who might not have heard the slang expression before, rather patronising, I thought.

I also felt the attitude to going to the CWA meeting was very simplistic and unreal - not for me, sorry.

I have finished the book now and my opinion didn't change from when I posted half way through.
It just didn't hold my interest and I really didn't wonder where the characters would go as actually they didn't go anywhere except geographically.
It was too predictable and the running the school storyline wasn't real to me or the adoption which was far too easy.
It was more chicklit than novel.
It was very easy reading though.

I did enjoy the book very much, however I wish the characters had had more depth, I felt the author skimmed the tops of the characters lives. Her description of the country was excellent drawing me a clear mental picture of the landscapes.

Just off to check her out!!

harrigran....I agree with you re.Monica McInerney!

I liked the plain, but fresh design on the cover of the book, and the summary of the characters on the back was useful to begin with to remind me who was who. The summary of world events for each year (1978 1981) puts the book into context, but also shows how irrelevant these events were in the Australian outback, where the book is set.
This book is about a group of women who get together through love of books, and struggle to meet due to the huge distances and weather conditions in the Australian outback. Friendships develop and they help each other through some tough life experiences. I loved the descriptions of the Australian countryside, and didn’t appreciate how the wet and dry seasons drastically altered the land.
Some of the men in the book are shown as sexist and racist, having poor opinions of women and aboriginals. Is that a reflection of the time or have attitudes, as well as news, bypassed the remote area?
The missing son of one of the women features in the development of the story, but we were never told why he had cut himself off from his family. I expected this to be explained, but it was not.
How to bring people together, and keep them together is sometimes a problem for every one everywhere. It is very easy not to get involved, or to fail to follow up and sustain relationships. We are very used to having our book clubs near to us – we are lucky!

Finished the book today but it left me feeling a little disappointed. The characters were not described in enough depth for me to form a picture in my mind. All five women were sad really and the only light seemed to be after the arrival of Archie.
The book club was a way of cementing friendship and to a point it worked.
I was more interested in the flying doctor/nurse angle, think the book would have been better if they had been the hub of the story.
I would consider this book to be chick lit and much prefer Monica McInerney for novels about Australia.

GrannyBear....No disagreement....Simply didn't spell out that it was the treatment of the themes I was referring to...Thought that was clear from my first two paras. Put it down to an overdose of on holiday

I agree with GrannyBear. I too liked the descriptions of the Northern territory particularly as my DH's late brother lived in Darwin in the late 1960s-1970s. I thought the sense of vastness and wilderness was well portrayed.

For me, the characters let down this book. I never felt any real interest in them or concern for them. Just could not relate to them and I think this was the fault with this book. The characters did not engage attention.

This book has been my late bed-time reading and I have just finished it. It has been good at sending me off to sleep!

I did not enjoy ‘The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club’. Until SueDonim posted the link to a Guardian article on Up Lit, I had not heard of this genre, even though I have read, and enjoyed, two of the books featured.

The book graphically portrayed the vastness of the Northern Territories and the many difficulties and challenges of everyday life there. These insights into life in the Northern Territories were interesting, but beyond that my interest stalled.

For me, the characters were not engaging, I felt they were somewhat vacuous. Yes, insights into the lives of the five main characters were offered and the importance of the friendships between them was emphasised, but, frankly, in the end I did not identify with any of them. I felt they were purely fictional characters and the events of their lives were not wholly believable.

I somewhat disagree with the implication in Geminijen’s question to the Author that the themes of this book might have been ‘more challenging’. I believe these are very challenging themes (isolation, bereavement, estrangement, childlessness, etc) but they are not explored in depth in the course of the book. I felt their treatment lacked substance and was somewhat simplistic and superficial. I, like others, had a few moments of disbelief at how neatly the various threads of the storyline were woven together and resolved.

The concept of writing a book about a bookclub is not new and I did not think this book brought anything essentially new to the reader’s attention. I would be interested to know what inspired Sophie Green to write this novel. Where did she get the idea of using the vehicle of a bookclub as the framework for her book?

I can't say that I am not enjoying this book all I can say it is not grabbing me.
It is not a book I can't put down.
I have nearly finished it and I have enjoyed reading it in short bursts. I am fascinated by the seasons and how extreme the conditions are, I hope this is true ( for the story not the people) in this country we have really no idea.
I will post again when I have finished Ang ask any questions I may have.

I’ve just read the article you mentioned SueDonim , thanks for that. I’ve read a couple of the books mentioned and can see why they would fit that genre, one I too hadn’t heard of before. But the adoption scenario really was taking escapism to its very limits!

Glad you enjoyed the Guardian article, GeminiJen.

I wonder if the book is a better 'fit' for the Australian market, given that readers there would be more aware of how life was lived in Australia?

The publicity for this book describes it as “perfect for lovers of The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Little Paris Bookshop.” Having read and enjoyed all three, I looked forward to reading this. And yes, it was pleasant enough, an easy read, if not one to linger long in the memory. As PoshGran and Pittcity have commented, there is light and shade but a lack of depth that leaves you feeling vaguely dissatisfied. All the while I thought that there could be more.
The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club takes place on Sunday June 25th, 1978. The five women are brought together through their love of reading and the book covers the three years between 1978 and 1981. At its best, it is a story of female friendship; of how women support and help each other through the toughest and most emotional of times that life presents: love and marriage, birth and death, friendship and loyalty, pregnancy and miscarriage, happiness and heartache.
Having visited Australia's Northern Territory in both the wet and the dry, I did enjoy the author’s evocative descriptions of the landscapes and the challenges of living and working there and would cheerfully have welcomed even more. Despite the title however, it felt like the book club was more of a device or hook which had been bolted on rather than intrinsic to the story. The books themselves are scarcely mentioned at all until the author's summary at the end of why she chose them.
Each year’s events are prefaced with a list of key news events of the year. While this does help to locate the story firmly in its period, the way that some of the events are referenced in the narrative did seem a tad contrived.
As the book draws to a close, some of the plot lines also start to be resolved, rather too neatly at times. SueDonim has already commented that the scenario in Sydney with Lachlan made her laugh. I did an eye roll
Finally, thanks to SueDonim for the link to the Guardian article on UpLit. I hadn’t come across the description before as a new genre, but this book does seem a perfect fit. Hence my question for the author: I imagine that incorporating more challenging themes would have taken away the feel good and upbeat atmosphere of the book. Was this a conscious decision, taken with a view to increasing sales?

When i reached the halfway stage of the book I was hoping that the storyline would start to go somewhere. Anywhere.
It didn't.
Looks like a seriously good read but is just more of the endless pap verging on chick lit.

I found this insulting the intelligence of the reader. Real life is challenging and sometimes futile, answers do not come out of the blue.
Yet in this book problems were neatly tied up. Unbelievably so. Especially the struggle to bear a child.

Too simplistic by far.
I was bored by this book.
Disappointed too. The description is promising far too much.

Question for the author? Do you think women are airheads who fall for a happy/convenient ending. Are you cashing in on romantic notions of life.