Ladies Unleashed by Amanda Whittington

Summary of Ladies Day and Ladies Down Under by Amanda Whittington:

Pearl, Jan, Shelley and Linda worked together for many years as female fish-filleters at the fish plant in Hull. In 2005, Pearl is about to leave. She says as her ‘leaving do’ she’d like to go to ‘Ladies Day’ at Royal Ascot, as this year it’s come to York.  Joe, the Supervisor, gives them the day off and tells them that, like Pearl, he too is leaving, as he is off to Australia for ‘a whole bloody year’, although he may not come back.

At the races they decide to do the jackpot on the Tote which stands at half a million pounds. All six horses, picked by Linda, are from the songs of Tony Christie and with one race to go they have five winners – one more for the jackpot. Their hopes rest on Broken Dreams, but it gets beaten into second place.

During their day at the races, aided by Champagne, we hear their stories.  Jan has ‘health issues’ and has devoted her life to her daughter Claire since her husband went off with the girl over the road, although secretly she fancies Joe, the Supervisor, who ‘kissed us once 7 years ago at Kelly’s wedding’.

Linda, an avid Tony Christie fan, came over from Canada with her mother when she was young. She was brought up by her grandmother as’ me mum weren’t no good’ but her mother has now turned up again scrounging money and stealing from Linda who has let her in because she’s scared of her and ‘she’s my mam and I get lonely’.

Shelley has grand aspirations!  At the races she suddenly calls herself Sahara when she thinks she’s meeting someone famous, like a TV pundit, she tells him she’s set to launch as a model although she admits she’s in a mess with money – ‘I owe 6 months rent and Council tax and fifteen grand on store cards’.

And Pearl, married to Mick for thirty-six years, admits to Jan that she had an ulterior motive in coming to ‘Ladies Day’. She came to search for ‘Barry’ a bookie she met at Kelly’s wedding – it all happened there!  They have been meeting secretly once a week at the Station Hotel for 7 years until three months ago when he failed to turn up and she needs to know why.  He is not here and we learn that he had a heart attack and died while packing for their weekly meeting.

The next day, despondent, they are all back at the fish plant when Joe tells them that the winner of the last race was disqualified, and they realise they have won £500,000!

Twenty months after the big win, they embark on a holiday of a lifetime in ‘Ladies Down  Under’. The plan is to meet up with Joe – but bush fires get in the way. Shelley’s luggage, with all her designer gear, has gone missing and Joe, who is organising their accommodation, is not at the Airport to meet them.  With no word from him they decide to head up to Palazzo Versace at Surfers’ Paradise.  When that is not to everyone’s taste they head to the outback and Uluru.  Out there at a rock in the middle of nowhere tensions rise between them and we get an insight into the effect ‘the win’ has had on each of them. Shelley has spent wildly and wants ‘shops and bars and a five-star hotel’.   Jan has realised that Joe not showing up wasn’t the end of the world, she not only survived but she’s feeling strong.  Linda admits she can’t handle the money; she has been giving it away as she feels guilty, ‘if they want the money let them have it. I just want things to go back the way they was’, and Jan senses that Pearl is keeping something to herself.  Pearl accuses Shelley of being ‘selfish and shallow and totally incapable of…’ and as Shelley is about to storm off to a hotel Danny, an Australian traveller, appears looking for his mate, an Englishman who went off for a call of nature.  It is Joe – who would have believed it out in the middle of nowhere!  After explaining about the bush fires Jan and Joe go off together leaving Pearl and Shelley who become reconciled when Pearl produces a spliff she got from the beach bum at Surfers Paradise.  Linda finds them stoned and in searching for the ‘stash’ she comes across a leaflet in Pearl’s bag. They learn that Pearl has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is having an operation the week they get back, she says, ‘They’ve caught it and they’ll sort it’.  They all decide to fly back to Sydney for a bit of five-star fun for their last week. They go to pack leaving Shelley to gather the bags.  Danny senses something is wrong, and we finally learn of Shelley’s past.  Her mother was hit by a car when she was young and she ended up in care, was fostered, but never fitted in.  When she won a hundred grand she went shopping but now only has three grand left and she’s missed the modelling boat. She doesn’t want sympathy and, ‘as I’ll not see you again, I just want to say it out loud’.

Their last night Down Under they spend at Mardi Gras where Linda comes into her own. As they are collecting for a breast cancer fund she wants to give all her money to the charity and Koala Bare, a drag queen, tells her, ‘Plain? You’re a rainbow. You’re one of us’. Prophetic?   At the Airport as they are about to leave Shelley comes in with all her lost luggage, then Joe, who is booked on the same flight, arrives.  Then Danny turns up and asks Shelley to stay with him and as she leaves with Danny, the others all vow to return the next year.