Pink

by J.K. Bruce

He smiled. ‘I’m not looking for anything serious, just to have fun. What about you?’

She stared at him over the rim of her glass. He wanted her for as long as it suited him. She felt an emptiness that might be grief. But what if he fell in love with her? Wouldn’t he change his mind?

It is Melbourne, 1966. When 18-year-old Jo Kelly claps eyes on her new co-worker, Ian Miles, she is smitten. As they begin dating, Jo is starry eyed, convinced she is the luckiest girl in the world.

But unlike Jo, Ian is cynical about love. He is twenty-eight, divorced and has a seven-year old daughter. Jo begins to feel that he is unwilling to share his life with her. More problems emerge as the couple must navigate a gossiping workplace, deal with Jo’s religious mother and are challenged by social attitudes which vilify women who are in unconventional relationships.

From the author of Into the Dying Forest comes an empathetic story about the hurdles we must overcome in the pursuit of love and freedom. With grace and compassion, J.K. Bruce paints a picture of a couple struggling against the odds to stay together. While Jo emerges from repression only to battle with guilt and the prejudice of others, Ian must confront the long term impact of childhood trauma which has affected all of his relationships.

225 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 17, 2025

Reviews

[Jossi Clyde · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s suburban Australia in 1966 and relationships between men and women are supposed to end in marriage, right? If you’re Jo’s big sister, yes, but not if you identify with the rising generation, like 18-year-old, Jo. Society is changing and the rules of engagement around courting, love, sex, relationships, gender roles and marriage are changing with it. The domestic drama of a family wedding offers the opportunity to explore these sexual politics. Jo is labelled cheap by most of the people around her because she wears short skirts and lives with her boyfriend, Ian, but there are allies like her rebel auntie and Jo’s younger sister. Ian and Jo love each other but he doesn’t want to marry again. Jo’s ambivalence about marriage is closely explored. The action alternates between their points of view, between expectation and experience, the complex flux between the inner life of emotions and the outer life of interrelating, between the individual and society. The way relationships are rendered is true, rich and real, with a naturalness to the dialogue. As the action reaches the climax of Jo’s sister’s conventional wedding, Jo must decide if she’s willing to forgo such security or has the courage to do love in a different way. In this dense emotional crossfire, Pink evokes ordinary events of a time of extraordinary change.

[Christopher Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is a love story, set in Melbourne in 1966, between an eighteen year old girl and a twenty eight year old divorced man. It's an absorbing read about well-drawn characters, and very strongly set in Melbourne. Full of interesting characters, it's an absorbing, enjoyable read.

Integrity note: I, the reviewer, know the writer as a writing friend. This review is genuine and of my own volition. This novel - not my usual reading - I found absorbing.