The Birth House
By Ami McKay

I chose this novel for a BRA book club selection, having read a review on it somewhere and thinking that it sounded really interesting.

When Dr. Gilbert Thomas, self-proclaimed expert in hygienic, pain-free childbirth, opens a practice in a Nova Scotia coastal village during the World War I years, it sets the stage for a classic conflict between long-held traditions and modern medicine. Seventeen-year-old Dora Rare, the only Rare daughter within five generations, improves her lot in life by becoming the apprentice of Marie Babineau, the independent but caring Acadian midwife who helped bring several generations of Scots Bay residents into the world. The women of the village (not to mention their husbands) grow bitterly divided when Dr. Thomas calls the health and safety of expectant mothers into question. His vengeful actions toward Dora herself - a young woman looking for guidance with her own love life - turn particularly personal as well. Dora's development into a strong, independent woman is extremely gratifying.

McKay has fashioned what she terms a "literary scrapbook," reproducing and re-creating historical news clippings, advertisements, and letters within the text. This sensitively written novel of women's birthing rituals, strengths, and friendships will appeal to readers who enjoy gentle humour and plenty of homespun wisdom.

Trip of a Lifetime
By Liz Byrski

Leaving her Newcastle office one afternoon, Heather Delaney, a parliamentarian, is shot in the shoulder, the apparent victim of an assassination attempt. A somewhat controversial politician, there seem any number of people who could have wanted her dead – but as the months drift by, no suspect emerges. Determined to get on with her life, but traumatised and vulnerable, she succumbs to the advances of Ellis Hargreaves, with whom she had an affair forty years earlier when she was a student and he a married man. Now divorced and living a reclusive life in Byron Bay, he comes back into her life seemingly eager to pick up where they left off. But as their relationship progresses, Heather finds Ellis determined to draw her into his shady schemes to set himself up as a New Age ‘life-coach’, and a dangerous game begins, in which she is forced to confront their embittered past, and choose between following her heart and her head.

Ellis is a slime-ball and why Heather can't see that is beyond me. All her friends, co-workers and family could see it. Heather's aunt is a beautiful character, as is her soulmate who lives next door. Their relationship is truly wonderful. I love Liz's novels and recommend them to anyone who loves to read about love, life and powerful women.

Food, Sex and Money
By Liz Byrski

Nominated in this year's Books Alive promotion, this is a story about three women renewing their friendship forty years after convent school.

Following the death of her husband, Bonnie moves back to Australia after decades in Europe. She soon realises that it will take more than adjusting the amount of make-up she wears to fit back in. Along with her friends Fran, a well known food writer, and Slvia, a minister's wife, she decides to open The Boatshed - a combined restuarant, gallery and shop. It's an enormous undertaking that has an unexpected impact on them and their families.

It is not only a novel written with remarkable insights and sensitivity, but is also a tribute to about three quarters of the female population of the planet, who are more than twenty-five years old. It is most satisfying that an excellent author had the courage to star women, who are over the proverbial hill, have been battered by losses, are anguished by the future, and caught between the problems of their adult children on one end, and the last struggles of their parents on the other. In a society besotted by youth, the majority of women cannot find many novels in which they do not feel excluded, ( or when included than mostly as ridiculous, or pitiable figures).

Belly Dancing for Beginners
by Liz Byrski

Gayle and Sonya are a study in contrasts one reserved and cautious, the other confident and outspoken. But their very different lives will be turned upside down when they impulsively join a belly dancing class. Marissa, their teacher, is sixty, sexy, and very much her own person, and as Gayle and Sonya learn about the origins and meaning of the dance, much more than their muscle tone begins to change. Gayle, crippled by the secrets at the heart of her marriage, is forced to face who and what she has become; the seriously single Sonya begins to explore her isolation from her family; and even Marissa, accustomed to seeing other women changed by the dance, must finally confront a horrifying event from her own past. And then there are the men in their lives: Oliver, deeply confused about why his politically correct attitude to women never quite seems to work; Brian, blissfully unaware that he's sailing towards the rocks; and Frank, who's battling his own demons.

'Belly Dancing for Beginners' is a warm-hearted, moving, and often funny story of what can happen when women and men are brave enough to reveal who they really are. I loved this book even though it is about middle aged women "discovering" themselves, much like her other book that I have read, "Gang of Four". She tells a story so well though, and makes it seem so realistic and plausible, that it is a genuinely good read. The twist in the last few pages gives more depth to the story and keeps you thinking.

Gang of Four
by Liz Byrski

They have been close friends for almost two decades, supporting each other through personal and professional crises - parents dying, children leaving home, house moves, job changes, political activism, diets and really bad haircuts. Now the gang of four', Isabel, Sally, Robin and Grace, are all fifty-something, successful and restless. It is Isabel who makes the first move, taking a year away from her family to follow in her mother's footsteps across Europe. Soon Sally is on her way to San Francisco, to come face to face with a guilty secret. Robin, in the wake of a clandestine relationship, heads for isolation in the country. And Grace? Well, Grace would never go away for an entire year, but, lonely in the others' absence, she thinks she might take a short holiday in England. Once there, she bumps into someone she hardly knows - herself.

This was a book chosen by a member of my reading group. It is a truly wonderful story and I really identified with that need to escape from my life for a time, and the women's stories ran so true. A beautiful ending, although it is not a 'happily ever after' story. I could truly identify with some of these characters and was truly touched by their friendship and the discovery of themselves. It happened to be selected by a wonderful person, who told us on the night that we discussed this that she and her family were doing a tree change and leaving us. Good luck, Alita.

Secret Mothers Business
by Joanne Fedler

Based on true conversations with real women, Secret Mothers' Business is a shocking, funny and often heartbreaking look at women, friendships and motherhood. One evening in late June a group of women friends get together at Louise's house. Natalie brings the red wine, Tamara some gluten-free delight as well as her fully charged mobile (her husband still can't seem to get two children to bed without calling her at least 6 times). Fiona will haul out her aromatherapy kit and they can count on Lou to bring along at least a kilo of chocolate. It is a regular reunion for eight very different women, with very different lives, secrets and fantasies. The only unifying factor? They are all mothers. Be warned, you will recognise yourself and your friends within these pages. These are conversations we've all had: about our weight, our fantasies - sexual and otherwise, those school lunchboxes, mother's guilt, our partners, the endless struggle to balance work, housework, family and sanity, and the seemingly impossible task of deciding what to feed the family every single night of the goddamn week. This is a book about the tenuous nature of mothering, the beauty and complexity of friendships, and the way in which women support - and judge - one another. It is a revealing look at where women go as mothers, and at just how far it is possible to go without quite going insane.

A womderful book - I don't feel nearly so bad a mother now. I related a lot to experiences a number of the women had and it made me feel that I was a normal, imperfect person and that that's okay. It's a great book to read in bits. Each chapter is reasonably short and almost self-contained, so a great book to have by the bed to read a chapter or two each night. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would love to do a similar thing with friends - no children, great food and wine and wonderful friends sleeping over somewhere other than our homes.

Safety
by Tegan Bennett Daylight

Elizabeth has fallen in love in her early adulthood, but with a lack of conviction and disturbing results. A little damaged, in her late twenties she embarks on a new affair with Ross, a fellow academic at her university. Their relationship blooms and offers her protection and security, for which she's been searching since she stopped being a child. She moves into his big, old, rambling family home by the Parramatta River and becomes pregnant. Then Ross's father, who deserted the family as a child and for whom Ross only seems to feel hatred and bitterness, resurfaces. He is living in Spain, but he is dying. Elizabeth persuades Ross that the family should make a journey to see him, to make peace with him and to show him Anna - their new daughter. But their holiday lays bare discomfitting truths and frailties, both in their relationship and each other. Bennett Daylight unfolds Ross and Elizabeth's love affair, and the joy and pain of motherhood, with wonderful sensitivity in a captivating story written in her characteristically spare, limpid prose.

I loved this book. It was written beautifully and the characters and their feelings seemed so real. I found it very easy to identify with Elizabeth's sadness and lack of passion. It seemed that her choice of partner was simply "he'll do". It didn't require any great expenditure of feelings or passion; more companionship than true love. I now want to go back and read Tegan's other books.