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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was concerned when I picked up a book titled Women & Children, and it was written by a man. That man is Tony Birch. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[447,250,8],"class_list":["post-4452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-book-review","tag-kylie-eklund-denman","tag-mountain-ash-chapter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_7452.jpg?fit=400%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pff1uY-19O","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4265,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=4265","url_meta":{"origin":4452,"position":0},"title":"The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See Book Review","author":"Helen Jahn","date":"March 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The gorgeous cover got me in but that intriguing story pinned me down. Told over eight decades, this is the story of women\u2019s friendship and estrangement. I found the history of this Korean island, Jeju, to be heartbreakingly sad but was fascinated by the tales of the local women\u2019s collectives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Review"","block_context":{"text":"Review","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Untitled-design-8.jpg.png?fit=940%2C788&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Untitled-design-8.jpg.png?fit=940%2C788&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Untitled-design-8.jpg.png?fit=940%2C788&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Untitled-design-8.jpg.png?fit=940%2C788&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3781,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=3781","url_meta":{"origin":4452,"position":1},"title":"Book Week","author":"Elissa McKay","date":"August 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s Book Week all across Australia, which means parents are putting Harry Potter spell-themed snacks into lunch boxes and frantically scrounging up costumes late at night (note to children\u2019s authors \u2013 we need more children\u2019s books with heroes wearing pyjamas, please). 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