All Day Saturday

by Colin MacInnes

Lusty sheep farmers and their sensible wives, brainy engineers and over-dressed girls on the make - the whole district loves the parties Helen Bailey throws at Cotamundra station each Saturday. And everyone loves Helen Bailey - everyone, that is, except her husband Walter, who sits alone in the Australian heat, polishing his gun.For Helen, destiny seems to hold only embittered passion, desperate infertility and a lifetime of endless, boring tea parties. But this particular Saturday a young stranger comes to play tennis. And within the space of a single day, the lives and loves of all at the station are altered forever.A poignant portrait of a troubled marriage and a comic and loving evocation of life in the Australian Bush, All Day Saturday is a heady, atmospheric drama, where the fates of many are decreed in one day.

Genres: Fiction

142 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

MacInnes was born in London, the son of singer James Campbell MacInnes and novelist Angela Thirkell, and was educated in Australia. He served in the British intelligence corps during World War II.

He was the author of a number of books depicting London youth and black immigrant culture during the 1950s, in particular City of Spades (1957), Absolute Beginners (1959) and Mr. Love and Justice (1960).

Reviews

[Pascale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walter and Helen Bailey live estranged from each other on their sheep station Cootamundra, the second most prosperous in the district after Julius Macnamara's. Every Saturday, Helen entertains all their neighbors while Walter sulks in the background. Nobody knows what went wrong in their marriage, not even their 2 servants/surrogate daughters Maureen and Nancy. One Saturday, a cocky and good-looking newcomer, Norman, disrupts the ritual tennis tournament by his pugnacity and bad manners. He fucks Nancy while coveting Maureen and inspiring a sudden passion in Helen. Meanwhile old Macnamara proposes to Maureen, is rejected and moves on to Nancy, whose only concerns are money and position. Julius also offers Norman a job, in the hope that having a young stud on his property will ensure that Nancy has no reason to leave. Macnamara's housekeeper Mrs Baxter tries to foil his plans in order to keep her job, but in the end accepts defeat and gives a lift to the city to Norman and Maureen, who have fallen in love. Both Helen and Walter make a suicide attempt at some point during the long evening, but think better of it and decide to give their marriage another chance. Overall this is a fun romantic comedy in a somewhat unusual setting described with caustic fondness by a writer who spent some of his formative years in Australia.