I was concerned when I picked up a book titled Women & Children, and it was written by a man. That man is Tony Birch. I needn’t have been concerned about this man speaking about women and children. He does so eloquently and with a great deal of grace.
The book is set in working-class, inner suburban Melbourne, in 1965. It’s a story about family, love, and sisters, and indirectly about the reach of the Catholic Church. Women & Children also tackles the subject of men’s violence toward women from the perspective of a young boy. Tony Birch’s characters are complex and real, and they face a situation which is absolutely relevant in contemporary writing.