Discovering Katharine

It is the mid-1960s in Perth and Vicki is bored, restless and up for a challenge. Like many young women of the day, she left school early and lives at home. She has a low-paid job as a typist and is friends with two workmates, Gwenda and Nora. The three young women meet each morning for tea and biscuits and gossip. They like grumbling about their pesky boss, chatting about where they're headed in life and discussing the books they're reading.Life begins to look up for Vicki when Gwenda...
More Description

It is the mid-1960s in Perth and Vicki is bored, restless and up for a challenge. Like many young women of the day, she left school early and lives at home. She has a low-paid job as a typist and is friends with two workmates, Gwenda and Nora. The three young women meet each morning for tea and biscuits and gossip. They like grumbling about their pesky boss, chatting about where they're headed in life and discussing the books they're reading.Life begins to look up for Vicki when Gwenda suggests she read Coonardoo by Katharine Susannah Prichard. Vicki is bowled over by the novel. From then on, she reads everything she can get hold of by and about Katharine and records her discoveries in a diary. Gwenda supports Vicki's project, Nora doesn't; she's more interested in Gwenda's troubled relationship and finding a boyfriend. Vicki's mother thinks her daughter is wasting her time reading books by a 'radical' and should be looking around for 'a nice young bloke to marry'.With the help of a friendly librarian and a retired school teacher, Vicki gradually discovers a new and completely different way of looking at the world and starts to plot her future.