No Place For A Woman

by Donna Hay

A warm, funny and touching novel about two very different women with one thing in common - both are struggling to find their places in the world.Finn Delaney is a twentysomething woman leading a curious double life. As far as her father Joe is concerned she works in a beauty salon. In reality, when Finn leaves the house every morning she has a very different destination in mind. Widower Joe has tried to turn his little girl into a princess, just like his wife would have wanted. Yet Finn's one ambition is to join her father's construction business and work alongside him. But Joe tells her the building trade is 'no place for a woman', so Finn takes matters into her own hands, dons a hard hat and joins a rival firm, Tates, with consequences that could see her own father's business come toppling to the ground.Gina Tate has been brought up to believe that a woman's job is to look good and say nothing. Years spent trying to please her difficult father and live up to her glamorous family have left her emotionally fragile. Ousted from the family business, she finds herself working for their arch rivals, the Delaneys. On the surface, she and Finn might not have much in common, but they've both got something to prove to their respective families. Can Finn find a way back into her father's heart? Can Gina learn to stand on her own two feet? Not before they both put their envy and resentment aside - and realise that perhaps they aren't so different from one another after all

Genres: Chick Lit

Hardcover

First published December 30, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.


Donna Hay's first novel, Waiting in the Wings, won her the RNA New Writers' Award, and since then she has attracted praise from critics for Kiss & Tell and Such a Perfect Sister. She writes regularly for TV Times and What's On TV, and has a weekly soaps page in Chat magazine. She lives in York, England, with her husband and daughter.

Reviews

[Siany · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally got round to reading this one after having it on my TBR for ages.

I forgot how much I love this author until I read one of her books.

I really enjoyed this, so much in fact I started reading this late last night and finished it about an hour ago.

I really loved the character of Finn, a strong female character, a bit too stubborn at times but definately a very likeable character. I wanted to yell at Gina most of the way through the book, she really was quite spineless and let her husband and father walk all over her.
And as someone who isnt like that, it was really frustrating. I actually read a couple of lines out loud to my husband and said its a good job he would never talk to me like that lol.
All of the other secondary characters made the story even better. I really liked all of them apart from the ones you arent meant to like who were very good bad guys.

I definately recommend this book. If you havent read anything from this author another good one of hers is Such a Perfect Sister.

[Preet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finnula "Finn" Delaney is living a lie. She tells her father Joe about the beauty courses she's taking, when she's really a builder, the one thing her father has forbidden her from doing. Gina Farrell is also living a lie, yet she's unaware of it. Gina chooses to turn a blind eye to the goings on in her daily and family life, all so her father, the real estate magnate Max Tate will be proud of her. When their paths cross, both Finn and Gina will be shaken to the core.

This book was a little grittier than the previous books by Donna Hay that I've read, but it was just as good. There are so many serious issues covered in this book, from sexism to narcissism and they were all integral parts of the story. The pages flew by and before I knew it I was finished. There were a number of twists that took me by surprise and were out if the usual. It was really easy to like Finn and even Gina. It was also very easy to dislike the Tates, which goes to show how great Ms.Hay was at forming her characters. I have a few books by Donna Hay's left and I'm going to try to get to them asap!

[Nazia Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story, about a woman who is a construction worker but not a hairdresser as her father thinks...

[eloïse furnival · Rating 2 out of 5]

the characters lack any sort of depth, and it just seems like a really shoddy attempt at feminist literature. this book had the potential to critique and demonstrate traditional gender roles and the disproportionate job market, but it didn’t do that for me.
it was readable as long as you’re somewhat brain dead and go into it with no critical thinking skills. the romance was the saving grace.

[Margaret Stickland · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars when you haven't any other books magazines to read. I read I read on I was glad to get to the end which was pretty predictable . Or perhaps you shouldn't pick up a book after reading something that was enlightening and absorbing

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very happy-clappy, down with the ‘big bad corporation’ book, which drove me nuts with the whole ‘look, girls can be builders too!’ tagline.

The prose was fairly clunky, with a couple of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.

HOWEVER, the novel deals with some key issues around sexism, mental health, workplace discrimination, and toxic relationships (both intimate and family based) and their effects, and I finished it in about 24 hours with a goofy smile on my face.

[Eliška · Rating 3 out of 5]

Na Kiss and Tell to nemělo, chvíli jsem vážně chtěla všechny fackovat. Finn mi byla sem tam sympatická, sem tam rozčilovala i mě. Taky mi přišlo, že se autorka docela dlouho plácala ve středu a ten konec pak chtěla mít rychle z krku, nebo jsem jen potřebovala vědět, jak to dopadlo s Ginou (po takových třech letech).

[Josephine (biblioseph) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. Was this written in the sixties?

Feminist fight is old and lacking appeal. Ick, ick, ick. "I'm a feminist because I also like to BUILD STUFF."

Regular fare of more interesting secondary story (yay!) and the romance in this is... interesting enough to keep you interested. Otherwise, pass!

[Stina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this book and literally said outloud to myself, "This book was stupid". The characters were undeveloped and selfish and there was so much miscommunication that it just pissed me off. Dammit!!

[Lisa Haines · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, however, one of the main characters, Finn Delaney, was an Irish pistol. She was young, strong and smart, but never let anyone get a word in edgewise. Sometimes you have to LISTEN, but then she probably got that trait from her father who was just as bad as she was.

[Jeng Nana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just expected too high by reading the title

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was okay but the chance that a dozen of characters all end up happy in life and in love after 200 pages of near bankruptcy, betrayal, and lies, is pretty unbelievable.

[Tracie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brit chick lit with fewer dress up scenes thanks to main character's profession. Strangely stressful book.

[Gillena Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this tapestry of relationships, surprise after surprise is weaved in for a hearty and captivating read, i really enjoyed this book