PRAISE FOR LADIES IN BLACK

‘Funny, affectionate, moving and written with a light, comic touch.’

MONICA McINERNEY, AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY

‘The writing, pared back to invisible bone, appears artless but is highly sophisticated…St John writes about that infinitely grave matter—women and what they wear…a deceptively simple tale for complicated and possibly deceptive women.’

HELEN ELLIOTT, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

‘Delectable…It is to be hoped that St John, who is woefully undervalued here, will at last be recognised as the best novelist we never had.’

MICHELLE DE KRETSER, AGE

‘St John casts an airy spell with the deftness of her prose, which moves gracefully, swiftly and with perfect manners.’

DELIA FALCONER, AUSTRALIAN

‘The book I most often give as a gift to cheer people up.’

HILARY MANTEL, GUARDIAN

‘Madeleine St John has a wicked eye for the domestic details of suburban life and a delicate ear for dialogue. Sharp, enjoyable and as redolent of the 1950s as a jar of Pond’s cold cream.’

THE TIMES

‘A little gem…shot through with old-fashioned innocence and sly humour.’

VOGUE

‘Seductive, hilarious, brilliantly observed, this novel shimmers with wit and tenderness.’

HELEN GARNER

‘A knock-out—ironic, sharp, alive, and then you’re stopped in your tracks by the warmth of her insights. Australia as we suddenly remember it…’

JOAN LONDON

‘As sparkling as an aperitif of cold champagne, as layered as a tiered skirt of white organza. It’s a national treasure.’

TONI JORDAN

‘This book is like the perfect, vintage little black dress. It’s beautifully constructed, it evokes another time while being mysteriously classic and up-to-date, and it makes you feel happy. I love it.’

KAZ COOKE

‘A delicious meringue that I devoured in one sitting. Wry, whimsical, wistful and touching.’

LEE TULLOCH

‘Brimming with elegance, uncannily modern and sparkling with mischief.’

ZOË FOSTER BLAKE

‘Funny and happy, it’s like the breath of youth again.’

JANE GARDAM

‘I finished The Women in Black with a rare feeling that I remember from reading when I was a child: I wished the story and everyone in it were real. In a nation where comic talent is so often spent on scorn or ridicule, Madeleine St John stands alone in her embrace of humanity, her funny, subtle eye lighting up the cracks in people where goodness is just waiting to burst through. An exquisite novel…you’ll find yourself re-reading it every time you need to be reminded that, in Camus’ words: Happiness, too, is inevitable.’

DEBORAH ROBERTSON

‘A major minor masterpiece, a witty and poignant snapshot of Sydney the year before yesterday.’

BARRY HUMPHRIES

‘All of Madeleine St John’s novels are masterpieces, but if I had to choose one book that conveyed the essence of her extraordinary gift, this would be it. The reader could start with any page of her brilliantly compressed dialogue and realise straightaway that this is the work of an exceptional writer. Those of us who knew her at Sydney University back in the late 1950s are still trying to forgive ourselves that we never guessed what she would become. Our only excuse is that she hadn’t yet written any of her novels. But if she had written no other except The Women in Black, the case would have been proved. Now that the book is back in print, we can confidently predict that it will never be out of print again.’

CLIVE JAMES