
Women & Children
By Tony Birch
2023
First Published
4.20
Average Rating
328
Number of Pages
It's 1965 and Joe Cluny is living in a working-class suburb with his mum, Marion, and sister, Ruby, spending his days trying to avoid trouble with the nuns at the local Catholic primary school. One evening his Aunty Oona appears on the doorstep, distressed and needing somewhere to stay. As his mum and aunty work out what to do, Joe comes to understand the secrets that the women in his family carry, including on their bodies. Yet their pleas for assistance are met with silence and complicity from all sides. Who will help Joe's family at their time of need? Women & Children is a novel about the love and courage between two sisters, and a sudden loss of childhood innocence.
Avg Rating
4.20
Number of Ratings
1,332
5 STARS
38%
4 STARS
46%
3 STARS
14%
2 STARS
2%
1 STARS
0%
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Author

Tony Birch
Author · 12 books
Tony Birch is the author of Ghost River, which won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Indigenous Writing and Blood, which was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award. He is also the author of Shadowboxing and three short story collections, Father’s Day, The Promise and Common People. In 2017 he was awarded the Patrick White Literary Award. Tony is a frequent contributor to ABC local and national radio and a regular guest at writers’ festivals. He lives in Melbourne and is a Senior Research Fellow at Victoria University.