AUSTRALIAN. INDEPENDENT. FOR READERS.
MARCH
2025
Welcome back, book-clubbers, to a fabulous new month of books! I hope you’re feeling nostalgic and extremely comfortable as our book pick for March is a wild ride through the last century as seen through the eyes of one remarkable woman.
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Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Rankin is approaching the ripe old age of 100 and, as my grandmother would (probably) say, ‘has donned more hats than a store mannequin’. From factory worker to suburban housewife, barmaid, artist’s model, activist, teacher, screenwriter, published author and recluse, Betty has accrued her fair share of life lessons but still believes, “I’m the same bewildered fool I’ve always been— maybe marginally less bewildered, having had certain realities hammered into my bony skull often enough.” [page 440]
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Born one of ten children in poverty-stricken London, Betty’s childhood is an unfortunate series of tragedies brought on by WWII, parental neglect and high mortality rate due to the lack of medical advancements in the 1920s*. She sets her sights on Australia, land of scorching sunshine and wide-open spaces, and on her travels meets three people who will become central figures in her life: the winsome but unlucky-in-love Pearl, steadfast and proud Athena, and Leo, a kind, sensitive man who steals her heart but eludes her by fate.
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On arriving and settling into a new country, Betty discovers that while Australia may be full of enough friendly larrikinism, it’s not without the similar sexist and elitist attitudes of her homeland (gee, I wonder that came from) as well as widespread racial discrimination.
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Still, determined to make a better life for herself than the one she left overseas; Betty finds work as a waitress and is pushed into the arms of wealthy bachelor Donald Burnley.
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Without revealing too any spoilers, let’s just say… things don’t go well. But the one silver lining Betty has from that relationship is two children; Mac and Rose, and her renewed friendship with Athena is a strong support as Betty endures the special kinds of hurdles reserved for single mothers.
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As the years pass, Betty goes through the exhausting medley of shift work while raising two kids but finds luck in the side hustle: writing under several non de plumes to The Australian Women’s Weekly and posing as a life model for a tortured artist.​ Sounds about right for work in your late-20s.
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The gears of the story change rapidly however, with the approach of the swinging 60s and with it, the political upheaval of The Vietnam War. When her son is drafted, Betty promptly joins the Save Our Sons movement and still spurred by the activist spirit, the Women’s Liberation in the 70s, having endured enough sexism since birth (the standard for women).
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Against the backdrop of these changing times, Betty’s relationships with her close friends and now adult children aren’t without the drama but show me a family that is. Her daughter’s habit of continuously butting heads with her mother will trigger fond memories, I’m sure, for a lot of readers.
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In the ensuing decades, we watch as Betty grabs life by the cajónes, not letting age or the backwards attitudes of those around her stop her from getting what she wants and befriending a bevy of unique and interesting people along the way.
Her life isn’t without set-backs and heartbreak however, as people she’s loved shuffle off their mortal coil but that old trickster Fate (and the author) can bring back a person you thought would be gone forever.**
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One Hundred Years of Betty is, as my grandmother might also say, ‘a ripping good yarn of a book’ that shows how one person who regards themselves as ordinary nevertheless overcomes so many obstacles across such different times that their winning combination of resilience, good humour, vulnerability and compassion sets them apart as a force to be reckoned with.
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Written with such great intellect and insight, Betty is a person we can all recognise in women we’ve admired throughout herstory and Debra Oswald shows how the small stories that surround an individual, the personal joys and sorrows, alongside the big events of the world are as crushing and heartfelt as our own.
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No doubt many a book club will stray into other conversations about past matriarchs, old friends and other women with the same revitalising and generous spirit.
*Yes, penicillin was technically discovered in 1928 but we all know it wasn’t put to good use until the 40s.
**Except for Patrick (IYKYK).​​​
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