Odd Girl Out [Paperback]

Elizabeth Jane Howard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

Anne and Edmund Cornhill's idyllic ten-year marriage is abruptly changed by the arrival of Clara, who was once married to Edmund's father and who overshadows the Cornhill's happy life with her lonely malevolence. Reissue.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Washington Square Press; Original edition (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067100025X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671000257
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,116,344 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Erotic Novel of Interesting Menage a Trois, June 17, 2001

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Odd girl Out (Hardcover)

There are three main characters in this novel: Anne and Edmund Cornhill are an idyllic couple living safe and secure in their private world; Arabella, a distant relation of Edmund's, is the stereotypical poor little rich girl but with an interesting twist. When the Cornhills open their home to Arabella, a complicated web of love, longing, and unexpected emotions erupt. All Arabella wants is "a peaceful happy life with - people who want that too - with me in it." All the Cornhills want is the domestic bliss they have known and cherished for the past ten years. What transpires is shocking and damaging, but written with the passion and intensity that make Elizabeth Jane Howard highly readable and every page of her book alive with tension and excitement. When one of the characters proclaims at the end "I'm truly sorry if I've made either of you feel unhappy," the reader is torn with the moral dilemma expressed in this novel. There are no black and white characters here, only gray, and when you have read the final page you will feel relieved it was only a novel and didn't really happen.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent read, March 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Odd Girl Out (Paperback)

having myself mistakenly believed in a romantic situation where there was none, i found myself invested in this book...howard juxtposes one couple's safe relationship ("like an island") with the solitude of a young girl's quest to be loved. although few can resist loving arabella, no one seems interested in keeping her. yet, when she moves in with the cozy couple, readers watch the characters' emotions and insecurities unravel. every odd girl out will love this book, and every member of a 'safe' couple should read it for vicarious thrills.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absorbing, December 9, 2008

By 

Sherry Barr (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Odd Girl Out (Paperback)

I picked up Odd Girl Out at a used book sale because of the reviews on the cover; it didn't disappoint. There are only three main characters, Anne and Edmund, who've been comfortably married for ten years, and Arabella, an intriguing young girl (and non-blood relative of Edmund) who comes to stay with them. The three become embroiled in a complicated relationship that calls into question and shatters what it means to be "comfortably and safely" married. Absorbing and well done.