Waterstones Welsh Book of the Month - November 2021

The '70s wasn't all glam rock and flares, punk and pogo-ing…

In Painting the Beauty Queens Orange, the women who lived the decade reveal what it meant to push boundaries, claim your identity, and carve out your place amidst the winter of discontent, the scorching summer of '76 and the rise of Thatcherism.

One young woman says a forced goodbye to her newborn baby. Another grasps new opportunities and sets sail on an LPG tanker with a crew of men. A third asserts her sexual identity. A fourth sets up a kitchen table business that launches an international brand.

These stories of ambition and adventure, motherhood and marriage, are by turns heart-breaking, humorous, and honest.