The Women in Black is about four coworkers in Goode’s lady’s clothing department in 1950’s Sydney.   I love ensemble novels, historical novels and even stories set in Australia, so I expected to really love this one. The interactions and relationships of  random strangers who become coworkers and friends can be a  perfect slice-of-life novel.

But overall, this was … fine. I don’t know if I built it up too much in my head, because the description just sounded so good. But I found everything just slightly dull and flat. There was a real lack of tension, and I quite like domestic dramas where the tension is quiet and personal, but there just wasn’t any tension here. Each of the women has a very clear, stated goal, with no ambivalence and no complications. Over the course of the book, each of them — spoiler! — achieves her goal with a minimum of fuss, setbacks or personal growth. And it’s really that fuss, those setbacks and most of all those complicated relationships that make a story lively and realistic.