My first Liz Byrski book and what I initially took to be a lighthearted holiday read has surprised me with it's depth of feeling. The four main characters grow and unfold as the story progresses and for anyone reading this there will be a favourite one for sure. The plot could have been soppy and clichéd but Liz Byrski has done better than that and written a beautiful story about friendships, growing old, hidden strengths and the love of books. All four books discussed have gone onto my To Read list by the way! ( )

Women's literature isn't a favourite genre of mine, so when I received A Month of Sundays by Liz Byrski for review back in June 2018, I wasn't in any particular hurry to get to it. An intriguing premise and beautiful cover held promise I might enjoy this, but I haven't picked it up until now in a concerted effort in 2020 to try and reduce my unsolicited TBR pile.

Mature female characters Adele, Ros, Simone and Judy have belonged to an online book club for years but have never met face-to-face. When Adele agrees to house-sit a property in the Blue Mountains, she decides on a whim to invite the other three women for a bookclub getaway. All four women are facing different challenges in their lives, and accept the invitation for different reasons.

The trip will be about rest, recreation and reading. Each woman is to bring along a book for bookclub that tells the group something about themselves and enough copies for all participants to read. Taking it in turns, the women will read a book a week and discuss one each Sunday, hence the title, A Month of Sundays.

Once I was able to keep the characters' lives straight in my head, I warmed to the setting and social interaction between the women quite quickly. Their book discussions were my favourite part of the novel - naturally - and their growing friendships were a 'feel good' guilty pleasure.

The problems each of the characters were dealing with were of interest, despite the fact that the women were at least two decades or more older than me. The familiar Australian setting of the Blue Mountains was also a plus.

A Month of Sundays by Australian author Liz Byrski is a novel about ageing, the joy of reading and the importance of deep and meaningful friendships. It was an unexpected delight to read and I can highly recommend it.

* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia * ( )

Please note: another book that isn't crime fiction!
And one that I really enjoyed.

Each of the women in the online book group is facing some sort of crisis. Three of them are retired, but they all jump at the chance to meet up and discuss books after over 10 years online. They have met before only through Skype and so they don't really know each other.

I loved the way we got to learn about each of these women as well as share in their book discussions.
Their discussions, by the way, were very different to what happens at the books clubs I attend, where we take a rather cursory look at the book and then move quickly on.

For those who'd like to explore this book further the author has kindly provided starting points on her website.

This book came highly recommended and I certainly intend to read another by Liz Byrski. ( )

A Month of Sunday’s, Liz Byrski’s tenth novel, is told with warmth, humour and wisdom.

When Adele is offered an opportunity to housesit a cottage in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales for a month, she nervously decides to invite the other three members of her online book club, whom have known each other for a decade, but whom have never met in person, to join her. Simone, from Tasmania, is excited by the prospect, while Judy, from Western Australia, is uncertain, but in desperate need of a break from her business. Usually Ros, who lives in Sydney, would never agree to spending weeks with women who are essentially strangers, but bad news has left her with a need to escape. At a crossroads in their lives, the retreat becomes an opportunity for the women to not only get to know one another better, but also themselves.

Thoughtfully exploring the themes of ageing, memory, personal growth, and friendship, A Month of Sunday’s by Liz Byrski is an engaging character driven novel. I love that this book features women in their late 60’s to 70’s, I was moved by the author’s examination of the issues facing these particular mature women, such as retirement, illness and grief, and the support and strength they find within each other.

“We’re all single and we’re all getting older; each of us has had to face something serious since we’ve been here. That’s a bond. This is no longer just a book club. It can be much more; it can have a life long after we leave here.”

This is also a novel that celebrates the ways in which literature can enrich our lives. So that the women get to know one another during the retreat, Adele suggests that each chooses a book of personal significance to share each week. The resulting lively discussions allow the women to communicate and explore who they were, who they are, and what they want moving forward.

“This is us, this is what we do. We talk about books, we make them work in our own lives: walk through the doors they open for us, cross the bridges they lay out for us, and pick and choose what we need to take away from them.”

While I think A Month of Sunday’s is particularly suited to a mature aged readership, who are more likely to identify with the characters and their issues, I also think it would be an excellent bookclub choice, and any bibliophile can relate to the author’s observations about the value of books.

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Four women who have not met each other, but have been in contact via an online book club spend a month together in the Blue Mountains. Each of these women have had experiences in their past that they have been unable to resolve. Through the friendship that develops, this diverse group of women find a way to deal with their past, the present, and plan for their future. A very thought provoking book. ( )