The Marriage Trap

From the bestselling author of The Radio Hour comes this charming yet pointed look at the tumultuous, extraordinary decade of the 1960s. It explores the effects of the pill, rebellion, and new ideas on ordinary Australian women who, alongside shorter skirts and the Beatles, embrace freedom.

1960s Adelaide: The Langley family—Olive, Len, and their two daughters, twenty-year-old Cathy and ten-year-old Evelyn—live a peaceful suburban life, although Grandma Langley turns up each Sunday lunch like a bad fairy to criticise their dubious morals.

Cathy, training to be a teacher, thinks women have it tough. No sex until marriage, then no work, child after child, and the sacrifice of their desires to church, husband, and family. Cathy is determined not to marry right away. Once married, it's all over. A life no longer her own. Young Evelyn wants to be a fairy princess... until she sees for herself the price women pay for such dreams.

When the new contraceptive pill arrives, women can suddenly sense freedom. But powerful forces are aligned against women's reproductive choice, and a fight begins. A fight that takes on their own doctors, the might of the Catholic Church, and the outdated morality of previous generations.