S porting a cover drenched in various shades of purple and orange, the provocatively titled Purple Prose is a collection of 15 short non-fiction pieces inspired by the colour purple and penned by 15 prominent Australian women writers, including Amanda Curtin, Natasha Lester, Anne Manne and Lily Chan.
The brainchild of Perth authors Rachel Robertson and Liz Byrski, both of whom edited and contributed to the collection, Purple Prose is a masterclass in theme and variations. As Robertson admits as we discuss the book in a Fremantle cafe: "It's interesting how many different ideas can spring from the same colour." 
But why exclusively women writers? The pair provide the answer in their introduction. "We both have our own histories and associations with purple but an important one was purple as a feminist colour and this was why we envisaged a book by women."
Robertson's piece, Velvet, begins with the discovery of a piece of coronation robe - "rich, deep purple velvet" - in her elderly mother's box of mementos from the latter's childhood but grows into a wide-ranging meditation on memory, creativity, family and loss.
Byrski's Maiden Aunts - one of whom is Violet, she of the incredible purple room - is concerned with similar themes. And, like Robertson, she is adept at making those important connections between family and social history. 
But she also seems motivated by regret: "It was the recognition of that squandered opportunity to know Olive, Violet, Gladys and Lily that made me curious about the hidden lives of older women."
Another strong piece in a strong collection is Rosemary Stevens' Purple Impressions, in which she describes her "epiphany" in a Melbourne art gallery after a guide tells her about the synthetic purple Mauveine so beloved of the Impressionists and which led to the "Mauve Decade" of the 1890s.
"I glance around the gallery, and from every wall the colour throbs in violet cloud and scudding shade," she writes. "Mauveine! That magical purple effect I've always felt from Impressionist art but couldn't 'see' till now."
Before we leave, Robertson draws my attention to some other highlights of the collection. "Anne Manne's piece about taking her mother out into the forest to look at a purple orchid is amazing," she says. "And Toni Jordan has written about purple language and swearing. It's so funny."
Speaking of funny, Deborah Hunn's witty, intelligent The Red and the Blue: Confessions of an (Unlikely) Dockers Fan is among my own highlights. 
But back to Robertson, who is enthusing about the opening work, Natasha Lester's The Things I Cannot Say. "It's so incredibly strong and moving," she says.  
As, she adds, is  Amanda Curtin's Towards Metamorphosis. "Amanda writes about a more subtle transformation of ageing and your public visible self and how you become invisible as a woman of a certain age," she says. "But she's such a striking looking woman and is far from invisible."
Purple Prose  is published by Fremantle Press ($28). Liz Byrski   and Rachel Robertson  will be guests of the 2016 Perth Writers Festival.