Review: One Hundred Years of Betty

Title: One Hundred Years of Betty

Author: Debra Oswald

Publisher: 4th March 2025 by Allen & Unwin

Pages: 448 pages

Genre: General Fiction | Historical Fiction | Women’s Fiction

Synopsis:

One ordinary extraordinary woman living through a century of massive change, from the bestselling author of The Family Doctor.

Meet storyteller, feminist, eternally curious and phenomenally old. On the eve of her 100th birthday party, Betty tells us her story.

Born into poverty in pre-war London, and growing up fast during the Blitz, Betty grabs the chance at a bigger life by migrating to Australia. On board the SS Asturias she meets three people who will influence the course of her life – Pearl, a good-hearted party girl, Athena, a Greek woman on her way to marry a man she has never met, and Leo, a German Jew who lost his family in the war.

In Sydney, Betty is making ends meet as a waitress at the famous Trocadero dance hall when she stumbles into a rushed courtship with Donald, a wealthy businessman, and dedicates herself to being the ideal 1950s suburban housewife. But life has other plans for Betty, and soon she must find a way to do more than survive. 

This is the story of a strong, intelligent woman born too early in time to make the most of her talents without having to fight for everything. It's about the defining force of motherhood, the family we make, and how the determination to live life to the hilt, with all the joy and sorrow that entails, can lead to a life beyond one's wildest imaginings.

Set against a century of world events and social upheavals, Betty's story takes us to the frontlines of the anti-war protests and the women's liberation movement of the 1970s, to the AIDS crisis during the 1980s, to living in Mexico and eventually becoming a TVscreenwriter. Even in her nineties. Betty is still passionately engaged with the world, still surprising us.

One Hundred Years of Betty is the sweeping saga of one particular ordinary, fabulous woman living through a century of massive Betty as a child, teenager, lover, worker, friend, mother, activist, writer, recluse, angry woman, loving woman, from the creator of Offspringand bestselling author of The Family Doctor.

My Thoughts

One Hundred Years Of Betty is epic in every sense of the word, an incredible read. Author, Debra Oswald, has taken one seemingly ordinary woman and regaled how her life played out over a century of world events. Each step of Betty’s life from child to teenager, from lover to mother, to recluse and old age, readers hold her hand and embark on an incredible journey. With events of the Blitz, Australian migration, Vietnam war, women’s liberation movement, the AIDS crisis, living in Mexico - Betty does it all! It is an incredible story. 

‘There have been points in my life when I’ve been impulsive, diving in without doing any forward plotting, and there have been junctures like this one, when I mulled over all the likely repercussions of a choice and thought myself to a standstill.’

Told in a conversational way it’s like the reader is sitting at the kitchen table having a cuppa with Betty. It’s so inviting. The blend of historical and personal events is seamless as seen through the eyes of one woman’s humble resilience. As you can well imagine all the emotions are present for this journey of a century. As in each of our lives, there are triumphs and tragedies. The honesty of this story is what will capture your heart and remain there long after you have turned the final page. 

A book that covers history, friendship, family, motherhood, love affair, racism, feminism … I could go on. It is such an amazing story, I adored it. 

‘I could scoop in fistfuls of anger and frustration and shame from my life and gather them into a form I could then reconfigure and understand in a different way. It wasn’t just about my own failings. It wasn’t only me. It was all women. It was the whole damn thing. And it was liberating to envisage that things could be otherwise.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.