A Month of Sundays by Liz Byrski

It is rare to find a book universally liked by club members at our monthly meeting but that’s what happened when we read a Month of Sundays by Australian author, Liz Byrski.

That’s not to say that we didn’t have a few problems with it and these might be a deal breaker for some.

The book tells the story of four women in their 60s and 70s - Ros, Adele, Judy and Simone - who have been members of an online book club for more than ten years but who come from different parts of Australia and have never met face to face.

Adele invites the others to join her for a month’s holiday in the Blue Mountains, NSW, where she will be house-sitting a friend’s home. There is one proviso - each book club member must select a book and bring copies for the other participants. And not just any book - the recommendation must tell the group something significant about the person who has chosen it and why the book matters to them.

During their time together, the women's friendship and support for each other grows as they reveal their vulnerabilities and the problems facing each of them. These range from medical issues to business worries to retirement concerns and family stresses. The women counsel each other and are so close by the end of the book that they agree to travel together to England to resolve some unfinished business.

Members thought the plot was clever and written in a satisfying, fluid style. However, we were not convinced that women in this situation would necessarily bond as well as, or as quickly as, the book suggests.

Nevertheless, the book has much to recommend it as the author deals with the challenges and anxieties which women commonly face as they age. She explores the power of female friendships (and, it must be said, of pets, since Ros’s dog, Clooney, who travels with her, is a comforting character in the book in his own right). Some of the underlying themes which the author explores through the characters include seizing the opportunity to change, revisiting the past to make sense of it, embracing the chance to reinvent yourself and learning the need for acceptance. There is an undercurrent of feminist sentiment in the novel but members felt it was the support of female friendships which holds the most truth in the novel.

The chance to have a break from your daily life by removing yourself to somewhere as pleasant as the setting of the novel in the Blue Mountains - with its natural beauty, bush walks, cosy evenings by the fire, and conveniently located villages with interesting shops and cafes - was also mentioned by members as important. Of course, the women appear to have sufficient financial security and independence not to have to seriously question a month’s break in the Blue Mountains, which may put the novel into the category of fantasy for some readers.

We admired the work put in by the author to find books which she was able to weave into the story as the women’s recommendations to the group. The book highlights the pleasure of reading and the inspiration that can be provided by books throughout your life. The author tells us at one point that a novel is a demonstration of the human condition, telling us who we are: “… this is part of the magic of books, you can read something you don’t actually like but still be impressed or moved by it. And even something that is quite distasteful can strike some profound note within you, so you still read on … liking or not liking is not always the most important thing about a book”.

You are left with the question of what you would recommend to a group of friends which would tell them something about who you are and the things that matter to you.

For those of you who want to add more titles to your personal book list (or to the pile of To Be Read books by your bed!), here are the books considered or recommended by the women in the novel:

• The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (Judy takes the DVD of the movie with her but has read the book)
• Tirra Lirra by The River by Jessica Anderson (Adele’s recommendation)
• The Witch of Exmoor by Margaret Drabble (one of Simone’s favourites)
• Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (recommended by Judy’s employee)
• On Chevil Beach by Ian McEwan (considered by Ros)
• Nothing to be Frightened of by Julian Barnes (considered by Ros)
• Unless by Carol Shields (recommended by Adele)
• The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (mentioned by Ros)
• Monkey Grip by Helen Garner (mentioned as one of the few books by female Australian novelists to have received a national award)
• Sacred Country by Rose Tremain (Judy’s recommendation)
• The classics by the Russian authors, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky and Turgenev (on Ros’s reading list)
• In Search of Lost Time - by Marcel Proust (Ros’s reading list)
• Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett (Simone’s recommendation)
• The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (mentioned by Ros)
• Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy (mentioned by Simone)
• An Equal Music by Vikram Seth (recommended by Ros)
• A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (mentioned by Judy)
• Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (not the movie star) (loved by Adele).

Who is Liz Bryski?

Liz Bryski is an Australian novelist, non-fiction writer, and former journalist and ABC broadcaster (who clearly admires Fran Kelly’s work on Radio National!). She was born in London in 1944 and lived in England until 1981 when she adopted Australia as her new home, moving to Western Australia with her family. She now lives in Fremantle.

She completed a PhD in women’s fiction at Curtin University in Perth where she lectured in Professional and Creative Writing full time until her 75th year. In that year she returned from a holiday in Italy physically and emotionally exhausted. She was diagnosed with depression and anxiety and since then has struggled to recover. She began to write a blog this year about the things she has found helpful - including discovering yoga and owning a pet dog.

A Month of Sundays is Liz's 10th novel. She says the character, Ros, has the closest resemblance to herself. Her popular non-fiction titles indicate her interests and include: a memoir, Remember Me; Getting On: Some Thoughts on Women and Ageing; and In Love and War: Nursing Heroes.