Martha Berry is fifty years old, a spinster, and one of an army of polite and invisible women in 1956 Sydney who go to work each day and get things done without fuss, fanfare or reward.

Working at the country’s national broadcaster, she’s seen highly praised talent come and go over the years but when she is sent to work as a secretary on a brand-new radio serial, created to follow in the footsteps of Australia’s longest running show, Blue Hills, she finds herself at the mercy of an egotistical and erratic young producer without a clue, a conservative broadcaster frightened by the word ‘pregnant’ and a motley cast of actors with ideas of their own about their roles in the show.

When Martha is forced to step in to rescue the serial from impending cancellation, she ends up secretly ghost-writing scripts for As The Sun Sets, creating mayhem with management, and coming up with storylines that resonate with the serial’s growing and loyal audience of women listeners.

But she can’t keep her secret forever and when she’s threatened with exposure, Martha has to decide if she wants to remain in the shadows, or to finally step into the spotlight.

‘Miss Berry, I’m sending you to work with one of our new radio producers.’

Sitting across from Mr Rutherford Hayes, Martha Berry could almost see her reflection in his gleaming mahogany desk. She’d made sure to shine it with furniture polish that very morning—just the way he liked it—and had double-checked that the black Bakelite ashtray onto which he tap-tap-tapped his ubiquitous pipe was empty too. It had been clean as a whistle first thing that morning but now resembled the ruins of Pompeii. The national broadcaster’s head of drama was rather fond of his tobacco.

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