Careerwoman Nell Thorpe and her home-loving cousin Chrissie both enter unfamiliar territory when Nell meets a man and thinks of settling down while Chrissie contemplates entering the workforce.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The lives of two English female cousins come alive in this poignant tale from Bacon (Other Women). Little Nell Thorp, left with her stern but loving Yorkshire relations due to WWII and her father's alcoholism, grows especially close to her cousin, the nurturing Chrissie Newboul. After an unexpected turn of events, Nell is able to attend boarding school and then university, preparing her for the life of an independent career woman who's not shy about enjoying a few affairs here and there. Chrissie, meanwhile, weds engineer Jack, subjugating her ambitions for a nursing career to family and frequent moves. In time, both cousins come to a watershed: Nell's is a passionate love for an author that makes her reconsider her attitude toward marriage and family. Chrissie's is a hope of realizing her career dream. But devastating events drive each to face her deepest fears, and both women will learn how difficult it is to truly know another person. Terse, effective characterizations mingle with the sounds, smells and feelings of Nell's childhood. Further along, dramatic tension grows flaccid at times, but vibrant secondary characters compensate, enriching a novel that's up to the high storytelling standard Bacon has previously set.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
This thoughtful and sensitive portrayal of a woman's attempt to traverse societal mores was originally published in the United Kingdom in 1995. Nell Thorpe, a motherless child raised by her aunt and uncle on their farm in the Yorkshire dales, dreams of having a home with her father when he returns from World War II. The dour Newboulds treat Nell with kindness, but the constraints of their home relegate her to a small bed in her cousin Chrissie's bedroom. Nell's curious and vivacious nature is the antithesis of Chrissie's domestic and nurturing persona. Bacon's insight into these two characters as they are reared in this narrow-minded countryside provides the blueprint for their successes and failures as they mature into adulthood: Nell chooses academic pursuits to realize her goal of independence; Chrissie opts for the more traditional role of wife and mother. This novel should have broad appeal because of its contemporary treatment of women struggling to attain or retain their identities. Liz Rifken
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