Mining similar territory to the over-hyped Boned (released in 2008), The Boys’ Club shines a harsh (yet humorous) light onto the outrageous sexism within Australian commercial television. Whereas Boned was written by an anonymous author, Wendy Squires makes clear use of her experience and in doing so creates a more believable and, to my mind, more readable story about what it takes to survive in this environment. That said, the book is still firmly situated within the city girl/mummy chick-lit genre and will be marketed as such. When new mum and journalist Rosie Lang is granted an interview with the most powerful man in Australian television, she doesn’t expect to be offered a job too good to refuse. As we can all guess, the ‘dream’ job quickly turns to the all-consuming ‘job from hell’ where her integrity and talent is compromised at every turn, pushing her to the edge both physically and emotionally. I enjoyed this book very much and (working in a male-dominated field myself ) found I could relate to even the most extreme characterisations. However, it was Squires’ authentic voice that provided that extra layer … and not to forget—the ending is fabulous.

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine (March 2009, Vol 88, No 6.) is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker.

Tags: wendy squires