People say they won’t suffer fools. I, however, will not suffer a bad book. And I won’t make you suffer a bad book either. Welcome to The Post’s September book review.
For this month, we bring you the newest contemporary fiction release by Sophie Green, Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon.
Sophie Green is an Australian author and publisher living on the North Shore of Sydney. She’s got a collection of published books under her belt, all set in Australia—in Noosa Heads, Far North Queensland, the Northern Territory, Shelly Bay, and the Mornington Peninsula.
‘I wanted to see stories for women that address big themes that were also set in landscape. We tend to believe that women who are reading contemporary fiction aren’t interested in landscape or seascape, and I think they are,’ explains Sophie.
Her latest release takes place on the Central Coast in the 1980s and follows four women and their four unique love stories.
All four women are in different stages of their lives—Trudy is a 57-year-old widow, Anna is a 42-year-old mum who leaves her husband at the beginning of her story, Evie, 33, is a single mother, and Josie, 19, is just starting to make her way in the world. At the centre of their intertwined lives is Trudy’s hair salon, the Seaside Salon.
Lessons in Love swaps points of view every chapter. It makes for an engaging story, one as you never get bored or bogged down with a particular character, and two because you are almost felt on a knife’s edge waiting to see what happens to your favourite. Having the constant point of view shifts is welcome in another way: you can learn about each woman both through her own eyes, and through the eyes of the others.
There is something to say about reading a book and seeing our local Hornsby’s train station referenced. Namely, that it spurs a type of excitement, like bumping into a celebrity in the street and saying, “Hey! I know you!”.
For Sophie, centring her stories in real locations across Australia is important. Culturally, she says there is a long-standing problem with cultural cringe, and the way to crack the issue is to keep producing Australian art—to promote Australian films, tv shows, music, and novels.
‘I’m so passionate about Australian stories. I work in book publishing, I can see what we all have a bit of that cultural cringe, thinking maybe our stories aren’t interesting enough. I want to write stories from places I love, places that I have been, places I’ve seen and felt the air,’ says Sophie.
Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon is heartbreaking and heartwarming. It is a prime example of Australian talent, and a reminder that our local areas are worthy of having stories about them.
