Friends Freda and Brenda are living together in a small flat and working in a wine bottling factory in North London in the 1970s. Their work consists of applying labels to wine bottles. Freda is single, outgoing, and assertive. Brenda is separated from her husband. She is an introvert who tries to get along with everyone. The factory owners are Italian. The majority of the workers are Italian immigrants, plus one Irishman. Freda is seeking to develop a romance with the factory owner’s son. Brenda must fend off advances from one of the (married) factory managers. The main event is a picnic for the workers. When this outing finally occurs, it takes a tragic turn.

This story is a combination of gallows humor, sexism, and classism. The characters and settings are well drawn. The prose is elegant. Primary themes are loneliness, power, and fears of immigrants at being blamed for whatever has gone wrong. It was published in 1974 and nominated for the Booker Prize. Dark humor is obviously going to be appreciated by some readers more than others. I enjoyed the writing style and plan to read more from this author. ( )

Very dated but a good read nonetheless. A glimpse into a time long past when men and women had very different roles and outlooks, no modern stuff to distract or validate themselves. Dare I say it that people seemed to talk to each other and tolerate each other a bit more?

A great little story that reveals more of the era as it opens out. There is nothing deep or hidden here it is just a great story and character study. ( )

The book is the first by Bainbridge I have read. It was billed as humorous and it is but it is all black comedy. Brenda irritated me a little with her passiveness but Freda was magnificent! ( )

The author shovels dreary characters onto dreary jobs in a dreary setting without giving them the slightest awareness that might save them from any normal indignity, but what happens is not just normal and the black humor of the resulting scramble is at least more lively than the earlier narrative. ( )

Two young women somehow get together and get themselves a job in a factory that bottles wine. The factory is run by Italians and all the other workers are Italian.

Freda is 26 and is tall and "plump"—something like 5'10" and 225 lbs. She thinks of herself as an aspiring actress and carries herself as such. She never succeeds in any auditions, so needs some kind of other work to make ends meet. She's brash and bossy.

Brenda is about 35 and was once married to a brute who took her off to the country where they lived with his nasty mother. He spent his time out drinking with his buds. Eventually Brenda couldn't take it and ran away. She's very shy and will do almost anything to avoid open conflict.

Freda and Brenda join forces and take a bed-sit together. They need money, so they get a job working at a wine bottling factory run my an Italian, Mr. Paganotti. Virtually everyone else working at the factory is Italian, with the exception of Patrick, who is the van driver. Mr. Rossi, who is the factory manager, takes a shine to Brenda and keeps trying to get her into spaces where he can seduce her. Freda, on the other hand has decided she's in love with Vittorio, Mr. Paganotti's nephew (or cousin?), and who is nominally engaged to another cousin still living in Italy.

So, Freda conceives the idea that the workers in the factory should have an outing, where they visit a grand house and also a safari park. Her prime purpose is to give her a chance to seduce Vittorio. Things, naturally, do not go as planned.

On one level, this book is rather absurd, dark humor. But the ending is enigmatic and really makes little sense to me. It would seem that there are no attachments beyond lust or thralldom. I dunno, the first 70% of the book was mildly amusing, but the conclusion left me cold. Beryl Bainbridge was a well celebrated British author in her time, but based on this example, I'm not sure if I'll attempt another of her offerings or not.
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