A long time friend gave me The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Bookclub by Sophie Green for my birthday with a little trepidation. She knows I read a lot and was worried it may not have been a book to my liking. How wrong she was – I found this book not only enjoyable but it made me jealous of this writer’s ability to put you in place, to describe perfectly emotions that I struggled to describe in my own book. But let me tell you about the story first.
It was set in the Australia’s Northern Territory on a vast, remote cattle property in 1978. It was hot and arid for most of the year, becoming humid in the wet which saw the property cut off from everything as the red bull dust turned to sludge. A family ran the property and the son had just returned from Britain with his bride. In an effort to make her life easier Sybil Baxter started the Fairvale Ladies Book club which consisted of Sybil, the mother, her daughter-in-law, an American jillaroo from the next property (a couple of hours drive away), a mother that lived in the closest town (also a couple of hours away) and the flying doctor nurse who flew in from Alice Springs.
The themes in this book were many – interracial relationships, death, grief, miscarriage, isolation, domestic violence, resilience and friendship, love and trauma. It is set over a few years – the life of the book club – and prior to each year commencing the author gives a list of news events that happened in that year. This I loved as it put me back in that year with both memories of the events and of what life in general was like at that time.
Green’s ability to describe the setting put you there. You felt the isolation. You felt the pain of the mother when the daughter had a snake bite. The flying doctor had to come from Alice Spring. Her drawing of the characters was also skilled making you like them or hate them and she had you emotionally involved. You were bound to them feeling their pain and happiness because these people were real.
The raw emotion that she described so well was where I became a tad jealous. She had managed to describe what I had wanted to in my book Nightmare in Paradise but had been unable to. Listen to the difference:
me: on hearing of the unexpected death of my father.
” ‘But he’s okay?’ I responded.
‘No. He’s dead.’
‘Nooooo!’ A long guttural scream emanated from someplace deep within as I dropped the phone, sinking to my knees on the floor crying.”
Sophie Green: on Sybil hearing of the death of her fiance Ray.
“…..There was that noise again. It was so odd. It sounded like it was in her head but also coming from outside the room,
She took a breath. She had to think about it because she wasn’t sure if she was breathing. Then that noise again. That noise was her, wasn’t it? She could feel it pulling itself up from her gut. It wasn’t a cry. It wasn’t a howl. It was a protest.
This is not real. I refuse to believe it.
Such rational words and she wanted to say them. But all she had was this noise, …..”
Thank you Sophie Green for expressing so well what I felt that day.
Would I recommend this book: Indeed I would. In fact I am considering it as my choice for book club dependent on whether our library has any copies.
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
Okay.. I just ordered it on Audible, Irene.. Took your word for it!! I’ll let you know how I like it.
Thanks for the review.
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Hi Judy. Would love to know how you find it. It will certainly give you a feel for the Australian outback. I’ve not used audio books. Do you find them as good as reading a book?
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Yes. I prefer it. By the time I get to the end of a day my vision is so bad from staring at the screen all day that everything blurs..I listen to a book every night in bed plus in the studio, car or while doing tasks around the house. I’m addicted. Did you know I lived in Australia?
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Sorry to hear your sight is wonky so I totally understand audio is better. Yes I thought you lived in Australia but I didn’t think you had probably lived in the Northern Territory. Not many Australians would have a true feel for what it is like to be that remote. Are you still in Mexico?
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Yes, I am still in Mexico, Irene. I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere in my life. In addition to areas around Syndney and Wollongong,
I did visit Canberra, Broken Hill, Melbourne and Adlaide, Darwin , Brisbane and Ayres Rock. Never made it to Perth, I’m sorry to say.
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You’ve probably seen a lot more of Australia than many Australians. I have been to Perth but I was so young I don’t really remember it so I too would like to visit. Broken Hill we felt we had to leave or we would have stayed forever. I have visited the rest but Roger has never been to the Northern Territory so perhaps we will head that direction when we can again travel. It’s funny when you reach a point that you have lived longer where you are than at any other time. That happened for us in Gloucester although we moved five times in the area.
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Not now. In the seventies..in Wollongong NSW.
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Thanks for sharing your review of this book, Irene. It sounds great. I felt the same way about the writing when I read The Thorn Birds again recently. So vivid and graphic.
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Funnily Robbie that was either the first or second book they read for the Fairvale book club. I agree. A great book.
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I enjoyed your detailed review of what looks like a really interesting book! I belong to a book club as well. Once we start meeting again, I will mention your suggestion. It’s fun for a book club to read about a book club 🙂
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That’s true. If you end up reading it would love to know what you think.
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I will try to remember 🙂
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It’s extremely difficult to write about grief and I think you both dealt with it well.
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Thank you – that is kind of you to say so. I did find it very difficult and when someone wrote exactly how I felt I understood how authors can give voice to those that can’t express themselves.
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That is some well-cultivated writing from Sophie Green. She caught the separation of body, mind, and spirit in the moment of traumatic news. It feels cathartic to read.
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Absolutely. I couldn’t agree with you more. There were many little gems in this book. I have to admit I was worried by the Woman’s Weekly recommendation but I found it to be much deeper than a romantic novel (which I think WW would class this as) would normally be.
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Contemporary romance has taken strides to be more like women’s fiction, blending tropes of both but eradicating the happily ever after ending.
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In that case I should read some more. This dealt well with so many issues that face women – romance took a very back seat.
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Great review! I have to put it on my teetering TBR list!
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Thanks Noelle. Yes I think it is worth a read and it certainly gives you a taste of outback Australia.
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This sounds incredible, Irene. Great review. I have felt that deep sense of disbelief once on my life and this is the second time tonight her story came to mind. We were on vacation in Italy and our friends there had gotten a message while we were traveling to Greece for a few days. When I read my friend’s note saying that a little girl I loved had drowned, I read it over and over before it hit me that she had died. It still wrenches my heart.
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Marsha I’m so sorry you had that experience, particularly when travelling. You are so alone when you are away from the heart of the grief and you want to be with those that are grieving. How hard it must be for the parents of the little girl when you know how deeply you are hurting. I can understand it still wrenches your heart. Sending big hugs. I think Sophie Green captured that feeling perfectly.
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I am reading the book now. I’m loving it so far but I’m only about 10 chapters into it. Yes, it was a horrible and surreal experience all at the same time.
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Let me know what you think when you finish.
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I will. 😀
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