Please note that this book was read by the Angels in November / December 2012.

This month the Angels book club read Tall Poppies by Louise Bagshawe. The story follows two women, Nina and Elizabeth who live opposite lives, but are both ambitious.  Nina is from the wrong side of the tracks and has to fight her way up the career ladder, doing whatever it takes to get there. Elizabeth comes from a privileged background but has social barriers to break down in order to have the career that she wants. The two find their lives taking unexpected turns in their career journeys.

The theme of this book is that two female protagonists are ‘tall poppies’, standing high above the rest in the field of 1970’s England where discrimination is till rife. There are many who would try to cut them down.

During the meeting, we discussed the barriers that women have had to get over from mid-last century in order to become equal in the work place (and how, unfortunately, this is still not the case in many companies.) We examined the very different lives of the protagonists and how they use their femininity to try and get ahead of the game, whether this works out in their favour or not. We didn’t feel that this was something that the women should have to do to get what they wanted, but was something that many women may feel that they have to do in order to climb the career ladder in some companies.

The Angels awarded Tall Poppies with 7.5/10, it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if was generally agreed that it is a good ‘chick lit’ book with a good message about equality.