The Radio Hour
Victoria Purman
Reviewed by Helen
Victoria Purman has taken me back to 1956 and the world of radio serials, a time when families sat around the radio and listened to their favourite stories and we meet Miss Martha Berry a woman who lived in a man’s world, come along and meet Martha and the characters who work at ABC Radio Sydney.
Martha has worked at ABC Radio for twenty four years and loves her job, she has moved from one position to another never complaining just doing her job, she is polite as you would expect a woman to be, she has just turned fifty and lives with her mother Violet, when she is offered the job of secretary to new up and coming writer producer, Quentin Quinn who is going to create a new show, As The Sun Sets Martha is thrilled but what she discovers is a young man who really has no idea, with a week to go before production should start he has written no words and Martha steps up to save the show and soon she is ghost writing the show.
As The Sun Sets is about an everyday family living in Sydney and Martha makes it so realistic, although some subjects cause a few problems she gets them through while keeping her secret, Quentin takes all of the accolades and the show is a big hit, as big as the long running Blue Hills which is also written and produced by a female Gwen Meredith. How long will this continue, will she be able to keep things going without anyone knowing that she is actually writing the show?
MS Purman opens up a world that was dominated by men it was the 1950’s and she bought it all to life so realistically, I loved Martha so much the way she took on the radio world and made such a success of it, I loved her strength and the courage she had to stand up when needed and I loved the other characters that made this story the best, I remember listening to serials on the radio and it bought back many memories.
I do highly recommend this one I was cheering Martha on throughout this story, Victoria Purman is a must read author for me, she never disappoints and this one is awesome. I loved it.
My thanks to Netgalley for my digital copy to read and review.
Martha has worked at ABC Radio for twenty four years and loves her job, she has moved from one position to another never complaining just doing her job, she is polite as you would expect a woman to be, she has just turned fifty and lives with her mother Violet, when she is offered the job of secretary to new up and coming writer producer, Quentin Quinn who is going to create a new show, As The Sun Sets Martha is thrilled but what she discovers is a young man who really has no idea, with a week to go before production should start he has written no words and Martha steps up to save the show and soon she is ghost writing the show.
As The Sun Sets is about an everyday family living in Sydney and Martha makes it so realistic, although some subjects cause a few problems she gets them through while keeping her secret, Quentin takes all of the accolades and the show is a big hit, as big as the long running Blue Hills which is also written and produced by a female Gwen Meredith. How long will this continue, will she be able to keep things going without anyone knowing that she is actually writing the show?
MS Purman opens up a world that was dominated by men it was the 1950’s and she bought it all to life so realistically, I loved Martha so much the way she took on the radio world and made such a success of it, I loved her strength and the courage she had to stand up when needed and I loved the other characters that made this story the best, I remember listening to serials on the radio and it bought back many memories.
I do highly recommend this one I was cheering Martha on throughout this story, Victoria Purman is a must read author for me, she never disappoints and this one is awesome. I loved it.
My thanks to Netgalley for my digital copy to read and review.
5 stars
May 1, 2024 by HQ Fiction
