One Hundred Years of Betty, a review by Joanna

Elizabeth is born in 1928 to a poor couple in South London, a middle child in a brood of ten. Her father is drunk & feckless, her mother worn out and inattentive. Bright and ambitious, her plans include getting to grammar school and becoming the best dancer in London, but life has other plans. With her family broken up by WW2, she finds another way to escape a hopeless future, becoming a Ten Pound Pom at the age of 19. Alone on the long voyage, she befriends three other solo travellers, each journeying to Australia for their own reasons. These relationships will shape the rest of her life, through marriage, motherhood, middle aged adventures and a successful late-life career.

The cover and title made me think this would be light and humorous, but it’s actually a lot more serious and thought-provoking, as Betty/Beth/Lizzie/Liz experiences heartbreaking losses, infuriating sexism, painful decisions, the trials and tribulations of single parenthood and a rags to riches and back to rags life course. She also knows great love, exhilarating passion, loyal friendship, and the joys of seeing her family flourish.

There’s plenty of politics & social commentary as Betty battles the establishment and discovers feminism, and witnesses the casual racism shown to any non-white Australians. She’s not always likeable, her insecurity and navel-gazing leading to bouts of selfishness and cowardice, but her life is always interesting. I didn’t find it as emotional as I would’ve expected, the way it’s told in her slightly detached first person voice blunted the impact of some of the sad parts. This is a 4&1/2 star read for me, and while I was tempted to round up for some of the writing, I’m going to round down for the second half which became a bit “I did this, then I did that, then I did the other…”