The Women in Black

Set in Sydney, Australia, at the end of a hot November, the novel follows the interconnected lives of several women who work at F. G. Goode's, a prestigious department store founded at the end of the nineteenth century. The women who staff the Ladies' Cocktail Frocks section on the second floor wear regulation black frocks, and six weeks before Christmas, as the shopping rush intensifies, their stories begin to unfold.

Patty Williams, a thin, worn-out woman, has been married for ten years to Frank, who works in sales at a roof-tile company. Their life is numbingly repetitive: Frank drinks at the pub, eats the rump steak Patty cooks every night, watches television, and goes to bed. Patty has consulted a doctor about her childlessness and learned that her own fertility is fine, but she cannot bring herself to ask Frank to be examined. Her mother, Mrs. Crown, and her sisters discuss the mystery among themselves.

Fay Baines, a handsome twenty-eight-year-old, constantly talks about men but cannot find a husband. Her father was killed in the war, her mother died years ago, and her brother lives far away. After a two-year relationship with a wealthy man who left for Perth, she has been at Goode's for eighteen months, sustained by her motto: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again" (15). Her friend Myra Parker organizes blind dates, but Fay grows increasingly disillusioned.

Miss Jacobs, the stout, elderly alterations specialist, is a figure of complete mystery; no one knows her first name or anything about her private life. At the far end of the second floor lies the exclusive Model Gowns section, a rose-pink salon presided over by Magda, a glamorous Slovene woman who is deeply intimidating. She claims to have worked at the Parisian fashion house Patou, a claim the narrator identifies as a fabrication. When Miss Cartright, the buyer, announces that a temporary staff member will join Ladies' Cocktail and occasionally help Magda, the news is met with dismay.

The temporary hire is Lesley Miles, a skinny, spectacled teenager who has just sat for the Leaving Certificate, the final secondary school examinations. The first word she writes on her application is "Lisa," the name she has secretly chosen for herself. Her father, Ed, is a compositor at the Herald who gambles on horse racing. Her mother, Cora, married Ed during the war. Lisa and Cora share an unspoken plan: If Lisa earns a Commonwealth Scholarship to pay her university fees, she will somehow attend the University of Sydney despite Ed's vehement prohibition.

Patty mocks Lisa during her first week, laughing when Lisa confides her ambition to be a poet. Miss Jacobs quietly defends her. Magda soon claims Lisa for morning shifts in Model Gowns, introducing her to haute couture and explaining that each gown is unique and exclusive to Sydney. Lisa perceives that clothing can be art, that each frock possesses a self-sufficiency like a poem. While sorting stock, she discovers Lisette, a white organza evening gown with red pin-spots, ruffled shoulders, and three tiers of gathered skirts. She feels an immediate recognition that this frock answers her deepest sense of herself. It is priced at one hundred and fifty guineas, far beyond her means.

Magda and her husband Stefan, a Hungarian accountant, arrived in Australia as Displaced Persons after the war and met in a migrant camp. Magda invites Lisa to Saturday lunch at their flat overlooking Mosman Bay. There, Lisa meets Rudi Jánosi, a witty Hungarian émigré of about thirty-five who has recently moved from Melbourne and declares he wants to marry a nice, healthy Australian girl. Magda gives Lisa a makeover, parting her hair differently, offering her a lipstick and leather belt, and telling her to stop wearing her glasses when not reading. When Lisa returns home, she reveals she has been calling herself Lisa at work and asks Cora to use the name too. Both cry, but they reconcile, and Lisa secures permission to attend Magda's New Year's Eve party.

A small purchase becomes a catalyst for change in Patty's marriage. Captivated by a black nylon nightdress in Ladies' Lingerie, Patty buys it and tries it on at home. That evening, Frank avoids his usual pub because his workmates' talk about children reminds him of his own childlessness. He comes home slightly drunk, finds Patty in the nightdress, and initiates passionate lovemaking for the first time in their marriage. The next morning, Patty discovers Frank has vanished, taking a bag and some clothes without a word. She sits paralyzed with fear. The police advise her to file a form if he does not return within a week. Mrs. Crown comforts her, insisting men always come back because they cannot manage on their own.

Before Christmas, Magda invites Fay to her New Year's Eve party as a potential match for Rudi. Lisa lends Fay Anna Karenina, and Fay spends a quiet weekend reading, surprised by how fast time passes, marking the beginning of her own cultural awakening. On Christmas Day, Patty pulls a cracker whose fortune reads, "Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone" (129), and bursts into tears. Lisa's parents give her unusually generous cash gifts, and the family goes to Seaforth for dinner with Cora's sister. Magda and Stefan feast with Hungarian friends, toasting the Commonwealth of Australia.

Magda's New Year's Eve party brings all the novel's worlds together. Lisa dances with Michael Foldes, the Australian-raised son of Hungarian friends. Fay dances with Rudi, who has begun to court her. In January, the post-Christmas sales erupt at Goode's. Rudi visits the store to ask Fay out, and on their first date takes her to a French film and dinner, asking her to tell the story of her life. She recounts her father's wartime death, realizes Rudi is the nicest man she has ever met, but fears that revealing her past relationships will end the romance.

Frank reappears at Goode's, hovering near Ladies' Cocktail. When Patty sees him, she collapses in a faint. Miss Jacobs and Magda tend to her with sal volatile, or smelling salts, and when Patty comes to, she tells Frank to go to hell. Sent home together, Patty learns Frank went to Wagga Wagga, a rural town, to help an old colleague who bought a pub. She berates him for leaving without a word. Frank admits he left because he thought she would not want to see him after their night together, but Patty realizes the truth: The intimacy they shared terrified him. Frank promises to make it up to her, and for the first time in years, the future looks interesting.

Patty then experiences morning sickness and is nearly two weeks overdue. Frank demands to know if she is pregnant, revealing his vulnerability. Patty says it is too soon to know, and they agree to keep it secret, reopening the tentative intimacy between them.

The Leaving Certificate results are published: Lisa achieves first-class honours, four As, and a B. Ed telephones home from the Herald composing room with the news. He tells Lisa he will consider letting her attend university if she wins the scholarship, provided she avoids any radical politics. Lisa and Cora exchange secret, gleaming looks, understanding this as a major concession.

At Tamarama Beach, Rudi asks Fay to share the rest of her life story. She fears the truth will end their romance, but Rudi promises to share his own past afterward, and she realizes everything will be all right. Meanwhile, Miss Cartright asks Lisa to stay an extra week to cover for Patty. Lisa confirms Lisette is still unsold; with further reductions and her staff discount, it now costs exactly thirty-five guineas, and she can afford it.

Rudi drives Fay to see a flat in Rose Bay. Standing in the empty sitting room overlooking the Harbour, he proposes. Fay says yes immediately. At Goode's, everyone congratulates Fay on her engagement. Miss Jacobs takes Lisa aside and tells her that a clever girl is the most wonderful thing in all Creation, urging her to go to university. On Thursday, payday, Lisa pays for Lisette. The next day, Fay gives her a box of chocolates from Rudi to celebrate her results.

On Lisa's final day, Mr. Ryder, the floor manager, watches her walk away from Goode's carrying the Model Gowns dress box and the smaller box of chocolates. He reflects on how she has transformed during her weeks at the store, from a frail child into a slim, self-possessed young woman. A young girl, a new frock, a box of chocolates: All just as it should be.