Review: THE KNIGHTON WOMEN'S COMPENDIUM, Denise Picton

• 
  This edition made available as an e-book on Libby by my local library
  
• Ultimo Press, Pub Date: January 2023
• 320pp
• ISBN: 9781761150685 

Synopsis (publisher)

Four generations of women, four ideas about how to live… and dance!

It's 1982. The Knighton women, all living under one roof are about to be struck with dance marathon fever...

Greaty, 75, matriarch of the Knighton family. Turning down marriage proposals since 1927, backbone of her Clare Valley community. Favourite dance: The Foxtrot.
 
Gran, 55, on the frontline of the women’s movement with her best friend, Wilma. Never saw a picket line she didn’t like. Favourite dance: The Twist.
 
Lucy, 32, single mother, romantic, looking to find a man and get married – finally. Favourite dance: The Hustle.
 
Holly, 12, obsessed with Australia's favourite star, best friends with Barry Jones and determined to win Adelaide’s illustrious dance marathon. Favourite dance: Tap!
 
Greaty, fierce and fearless is creating her legacy, re-writing the rules of The Women’s Annual, a tome her own mother gifted to her as a young woman. In it, she weighs up time-honoured traditions of housekeeping, and reflects on what makes a woman’s life her own, rather than at the beck and call of society’s rules – and men.
 
Meanwhile, Holly, on the verge of teenhood, is finding her own feet, banking on becoming a famous dancer, until Gran and Wilma decide the marathon is the latest focus of their activism, bringing feminist values to Adelaide’s premier social event of the year…
 
Bring on the generational conflict that'll leave sequins on the dancefloor.

A story about family, the changing lives of women in the 20th century, and the joy of fulfilling one's purpose and dreams, The Knighton Women’s Compendium is the heartwarming read of this summer.

My Take

This was a lovely read set in South Australia's mid-north near Clare, nearly 40 years ago. 

Holly is 12, soon to be a teenager, living in an all-female household, with her great grandmother, her grandmother, and her mother. The four generations get on remarkably well, but life is about to change. Holly is changing herself into a young woman, but she doesn't realise that her household is about to change too. Her mother is being courted by two local men, one of whom is married.  If she marries, Lucy will move out of the family home. What will happen to Holly then?

A dance marathon in Adelaide brings things to a head.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read 4.4, THE FAMILY STRING