The Home Girls

Between the publication of The Home Girls, in 1982, and her death, Olga Masters was acclaimed as one of Australia's finest writers. Her short stories, distinguished by their acute observation of human behaviour, drew comparison with the finest exponents of the form, such as Chekhov.

The Home Girls is a collection of candid, witty stories about rural and suburban life. Set in the mid-twentieth century, these are tales of ordinary people and domestic life. Masters was, as the Advertiser remarked, 'a natural storyteller'.

'She can be both tender and funny, and always there is absolute authenticity of detail, a strong sense of time and place, an effortless depiction of personality.' Judges' Report, NBC Awards

About the Author

Olga Masters (1919-1986) is widely acclaimed for a distinguished body of fiction published in the 1980s. Her novels and short stories are largely set in rural New South Wales between the wars, although some of her work has contemporary and urban settings, and her work is characterized by its vivid recreation of time and place. Although, on first impression, the writing may appear plain and simply textured, Masters counters this by revealing a shifting, uncertain world where her characters' lives are in a continual state of flux.