Book Review – The Boys' Club by Wendy Squires
Entertaining Fiction Set in the World of Australian Television
Apr 19, 2009
As a former Publicity Director for the Nine Network, Wendy Squires certainly has first-hand experience of life behind the scenes of Australian television. Touted as “Bridget Jones meets Devil Wears Prada”, her first novel The Boys’ Club is chick-lit with bite.
The Boys’ Club
Rosie Lang has joined the fictional Network Six, as Head of Publicity just as ratings are plummeting, and her work day is spent lurching from one crisis to another. Rosie’s boss Big Keith, a foul-mouthed, big drinking and smoking misogynist, is having trouble keeping his network together. As one of very few women in the executive inner circle, Rosie finds herself being blamed for every problem that arises, and has particular difficulty in her dealings with the malicious head of light entertainment, Simon Nash.
Life as a working single mother to four-year-old Leon is hard enough, without the added burdens of an uncooperative ex-husband and an over-critical mother. A budding romance with “Snag Dad” Daniel from Leon’s day-care centre provides yet another distraction, and with both her home and work lives spiralling out of control, Rosie finds herself hanging all her hopes on Australian television’s big night – the annual Kennedy Awards.
Behind the Scenes of Australian Television
While The Boys’ Club ticks all the chick-lit boxes of a woman struggling to balance work, motherhood and romance, it is Squires’ take on the Australian television industry that gives the novel its real edge. Indeed the descriptions of battles in the Network Six boardrooms and Squires’ characterisation of Big Keith are the most entertaining parts of the story.
By comparison Rosie’s life away from work is not nearly as interesting a plotline. The relationship issues usually at the centre of novels of this genre seem to be merely a sidenote to the more significant action at Network Six. Still there is plenty there for regular readers of chick-lit to enjoy. Rosie’s ditzy best friend and idiosyncratic PA provide many light moments, and there are just enough obstacles impeding Rosie’s relationship with Daniel to keep romance-inclined readers happy.
About Wendy Squires
Currently Associate Editor at The Australian Women’s Weekly as well as freelancing regularly for several other publications, Wendy Squires has more than 20 years experience as a newspaper and magazine journalist. She spent one year as Publicity Director at the Nine Network.
The Boys’ Club is well-written and entertaining. Any reader familiar with key players in the television industry will have fun trying to determine exactly where Squires may have drawn her inspiration.
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