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The Home
A tragi-comedy published in 1971 that looks at the experience of a woman escaping a broken marriage and trying to make a new home for grown-up children who no longer need her. Dealing with themes of abandonment, loneliness, liberation and love, Eleanor’s emotional journey is often raw and dark, but at times funny and uplifting as she grapples with her newfound singledom under the critical eyes of her mother and mother-in-law, and the selfish attitudes of various suitors.
Perfectly capturing the tone of the 70s, and the reality faced by so many women when forced to re-assess their roles as wife and mother.
Perfectly capturing the tone of the 70s, and the reality faced by so many women when forced to re-assess their roles as wife and mother.
209 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
9 people are currently reading
195 people want to read
About the author
Penelope Mortimer
32 books69 followersEarly life
She was born in Rhyl, Flintshire, Wales, the younger child of an Anglican clergyman, who had lost his faith and used the parish magazine to celebrate the Soviet persecution of the Russian church. He also sexually abused her. Her father frequently changed his parish, so, consequently, she attended numerous schools. She left University College, London, after only one year.
Adulthood
She married Charles Dimont, a journalist, in 1937, and they had two daughters, including the actress Caroline Mortimer, and two daughters through extra-marital relationships with Kenneth Harrison and Randall Swingler.
She met barrister and writer John Mortimer while pregnant with the last child and married him in 1949. Together they had a daughter and a son.
She had one novel, Johanna, published under her name, Penelope Dimont, then as Penelope Mortimer, she authored A Villa in Summer (1954; Michael Joseph). It received critical acclaim. More novels followed.
She was also a freelance journalist, whose work appeared regularly in The New Yorker. As an agony aunt for the Daily Mail, she wrote under the nom de plume Ann Temple. In the late 1960s, she replaced Penelope Gilliatt as film critic for The Observer.
Her marriage to John Mortimer was difficult. They both had frequent extramarital affairs. Penelope had six children by four different men. They divorced in 1971. Her relationships with men were the inspiration for the novels, Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1958; republished in 2008 by Persephone Books) and The Pumpkin Eater (1962; reissued in 2011 by New York Review Books), which was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter. It starred Peter Finch, James Mason and Anne Bancroft, who won an Oscar nomination for her role.
Mortimer continued in journalism, mainly for The Sunday Times, and also wrote screenplays. Her biography of the Queen Mother was commissioned by Macmillan, but when completed, it was rejected so instead Viking published it in 1986. Her former agent Giles Gordon in his Guardian obituary called it "the most astute biography of a royal since Lytton Strachey was at work. Penelope had approached her subject as somebody in the public eye, whose career might as well be recorded as if she were a normal human being."
She wrote two volumes of autobiography, About Time: An Aspect of Autobiography, covering her life until 1939, appeared in 1979 and won the Whitbread Prize, and About Time Too: 1940–78 in 1993. A third volume, Closing Time, is unpublished.
She died from cancer, aged 81, in Kensington, London, England.
Novels
Johanna (1947) (as Penelope Dimont)
A Villa in Summer (1954)
The Bright Prison (1956)
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1958)
The Pumpkin Eater (1962)
My Friend Says It's Bulletproof (1968)
The Home (1971)
Long Distance (1974)
The Handyman (1983)
Short story collections
Saturday Lunch with the Brownings (1977)
Humphrey's Mother
Autobiographies
About Time: An Aspect of Autobiography (1979)
About Time Too: 1940–78 (1993)
Biography
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1986), revised edition published in 1995, subtitled An Alternative Portrait Of Her Life And Times
Travel writing
With Love and Lizards (co-authored with John Mortimer, 1957)
She was born in Rhyl, Flintshire, Wales, the younger child of an Anglican clergyman, who had lost his faith and used the parish magazine to celebrate the Soviet persecution of the Russian church. He also sexually abused her. Her father frequently changed his parish, so, consequently, she attended numerous schools. She left University College, London, after only one year.
Adulthood
She married Charles Dimont, a journalist, in 1937, and they had two daughters, including the actress Caroline Mortimer, and two daughters through extra-marital relationships with Kenneth Harrison and Randall Swingler.
She met barrister and writer John Mortimer while pregnant with the last child and married him in 1949. Together they had a daughter and a son.
She had one novel, Johanna, published under her name, Penelope Dimont, then as Penelope Mortimer, she authored A Villa in Summer (1954; Michael Joseph). It received critical acclaim. More novels followed.
She was also a freelance journalist, whose work appeared regularly in The New Yorker. As an agony aunt for the Daily Mail, she wrote under the nom de plume Ann Temple. In the late 1960s, she replaced Penelope Gilliatt as film critic for The Observer.
Her marriage to John Mortimer was difficult. They both had frequent extramarital affairs. Penelope had six children by four different men. They divorced in 1971. Her relationships with men were the inspiration for the novels, Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1958; republished in 2008 by Persephone Books) and The Pumpkin Eater (1962; reissued in 2011 by New York Review Books), which was adapted for the screen by Harold Pinter. It starred Peter Finch, James Mason and Anne Bancroft, who won an Oscar nomination for her role.
Mortimer continued in journalism, mainly for The Sunday Times, and also wrote screenplays. Her biography of the Queen Mother was commissioned by Macmillan, but when completed, it was rejected so instead Viking published it in 1986. Her former agent Giles Gordon in his Guardian obituary called it "the most astute biography of a royal since Lytton Strachey was at work. Penelope had approached her subject as somebody in the public eye, whose career might as well be recorded as if she were a normal human being."
She wrote two volumes of autobiography, About Time: An Aspect of Autobiography, covering her life until 1939, appeared in 1979 and won the Whitbread Prize, and About Time Too: 1940–78 in 1993. A third volume, Closing Time, is unpublished.
She died from cancer, aged 81, in Kensington, London, England.
Novels
Johanna (1947) (as Penelope Dimont)
A Villa in Summer (1954)
The Bright Prison (1956)
Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1958)
The Pumpkin Eater (1962)
My Friend Says It's Bulletproof (1968)
The Home (1971)
Long Distance (1974)
The Handyman (1983)
Short story collections
Saturday Lunch with the Brownings (1977)
Humphrey's Mother
Autobiographies
About Time: An Aspect of Autobiography (1979)
About Time Too: 1940–78 (1993)
Biography
Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1986), revised edition published in 1995, subtitled An Alternative Portrait Of Her Life And Times
Travel writing
With Love and Lizards (co-authored with John Mortimer, 1957)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 26, 2023
Written in the early 70s this is still relevant today I guess. A couple married and separated but still in love and continuing relationships with others by the side - with full knowledge all over.
I found parts of the characters behaviours incredulous - but who am I to make judgements. It takes all types to make the world. This is a rollicking 230 pg book with exposure to different parts of Europe and exotic names of liquors/liqueurs and cities I may never see in my life.
All in a day's work :). If this excites you go for it.
I found parts of the characters behaviours incredulous - but who am I to make judgements. It takes all types to make the world. This is a rollicking 230 pg book with exposure to different parts of Europe and exotic names of liquors/liqueurs and cities I may never see in my life.
All in a day's work :). If this excites you go for it.
August 19, 2025
⭐️ 3,5/5
January 25, 2024
Penelope Mortimer writes desperately sad people better than anyone else. I absolutely love her depictions of dysfunctional, coloured by their time —but not constrained by them— familial relationships and encroaching loneliness, told with a clear-eyed wit and devastating turn of phrase.
March 19, 2023
CN homophobia (there's one openly gay character and some of the other characters say pretty homophobic things to/about him.)
August 31, 2023
DNF at page 40. I liked The Pumpkin Eater and Daddy's Gone A-hunting, both good books. The Home strikes me as artificial and besides, I have no interest in a story where the husband has affairs with young women and the wife has affairs with married men. Gross.
April 11, 2023
‘The Home’ reads like a sort of spiritual successor to Mortimers other, perhaps more well known, ‘The Pumpkin Eater’. In that novel, we follow a woman in an unhappy marriage to a wealthy man - in ‘Home’, we follow a woman who is in the process of splitting from a similar husband, as she navigates what this means for her children, her life, and her state of mind. It’s a simple story - but Mortimer really connected me to the main character here. I felt for her, her troubles, and could see the impending emotional spiral that I was about to be taken on.
The reason I’ve rated ‘Home’ higher than ‘Pumpkin’, is because I think it has more to say about the inner workings of us as people. Our main character here slips into a sort of depression, a loneliness - that’s only exasperated by her soon to be ex husband taking up with a younger woman. A woman who just so happens to have the same name as our main character (emphasising that she is quite literally being traded in for a younger model). In terms of plot, it’s nothing new, but the rawness at work here makes for an excellent examination of what it means to have no control, or idea of what you’re doing. Our main character tells us continuously she doesn’t care for her soon to be ex husband, only to long for him two sentences later. It’s these sort of moments that felt quite real to me - emphasising the upheaval that the end of a long relationship can bring.
The novel also works as a bit of an interesting Time Capsule. A brief warning at the front of the novel from the publisher suggests readers may find things in this novel problematic or stereotypical due to the time it was written (1971). In this case, it’s a rather stereotypically flamboyant homosexual son - multiple characters in the novel, (although not all) do openly look down on him for his sexuality, with some almost casually disowning him and not considering part of the family because of it. As a modern reader, it does feel jarring, yet as with the current debate with Roald Dahl/Agatha Christie, it shows the progression of certain situations, and how they have changed over time.
The reason I’ve rated ‘Home’ higher than ‘Pumpkin’, is because I think it has more to say about the inner workings of us as people. Our main character here slips into a sort of depression, a loneliness - that’s only exasperated by her soon to be ex husband taking up with a younger woman. A woman who just so happens to have the same name as our main character (emphasising that she is quite literally being traded in for a younger model). In terms of plot, it’s nothing new, but the rawness at work here makes for an excellent examination of what it means to have no control, or idea of what you’re doing. Our main character tells us continuously she doesn’t care for her soon to be ex husband, only to long for him two sentences later. It’s these sort of moments that felt quite real to me - emphasising the upheaval that the end of a long relationship can bring.
The novel also works as a bit of an interesting Time Capsule. A brief warning at the front of the novel from the publisher suggests readers may find things in this novel problematic or stereotypical due to the time it was written (1971). In this case, it’s a rather stereotypically flamboyant homosexual son - multiple characters in the novel, (although not all) do openly look down on him for his sexuality, with some almost casually disowning him and not considering part of the family because of it. As a modern reader, it does feel jarring, yet as with the current debate with Roald Dahl/Agatha Christie, it shows the progression of certain situations, and how they have changed over time.
March 5, 2013
The Home is a sort of sequel to The Pumpkin Eater. Though not quite as superlative.
We now find our main protagonist divorced and living in a large terraced London house, coping with her loneliness and her gang of now young adult children.
P. Mortimer is a warm and witty writer and has a gentle sort of intelligence that makes her always very good company.
She tried to have this made into a film starring Bette Davis and Dirk Bogarde, in so doing she became their lifelong friends but the film was sadly never made.
If you've enjoyed any of her books, this comes highly recommended.
We now find our main protagonist divorced and living in a large terraced London house, coping with her loneliness and her gang of now young adult children.
P. Mortimer is a warm and witty writer and has a gentle sort of intelligence that makes her always very good company.
She tried to have this made into a film starring Bette Davis and Dirk Bogarde, in so doing she became their lifelong friends but the film was sadly never made.
If you've enjoyed any of her books, this comes highly recommended.
May 29, 2023
3.5
I'm not sure about this one. It's a far cry from The Pumpkin-Eater and My Friend Says It's Bullet-Proof, but I enjoyed reading it. Eleanor's misery is pretty static, and the family dynamic is not very interesting either. With the exception of what's going between the gay brother and his younger, straight brother, and that's mostly just saddening.
I liked the irreverent shifts of perspective, the evil and formidable grandmothers, the total failure of a husband, and the sex-scene.
I'm not sure about this one. It's a far cry from The Pumpkin-Eater and My Friend Says It's Bullet-Proof, but I enjoyed reading it. Eleanor's misery is pretty static, and the family dynamic is not very interesting either. With the exception of what's going between the gay brother and his younger, straight brother, and that's mostly just saddening.
I liked the irreverent shifts of perspective, the evil and formidable grandmothers, the total failure of a husband, and the sex-scene.
March 22, 2020
The circumstances under which a book is read are always going to influence the reader's response. I starting reading THE HOME on March 16th 2020, just as UK government were starting to take the Covid-19 situation much more seriously. I finished it on the 21st March, the day after all of the pubs, cafes, cinemas, theaters, gyms and leisure centers were ordered to close for an indefinite period. The museum where I work had shut it doors on the 17th. I have been thoroughly engaged by Penelope Mortimer's fiction in the past - particularly THE PUMPKIN EATER and SATURDAY LUNCH AT THE BROWNINGS - but this time around I found I couldn't keep my mind on the life of this book's quietly devastated, post-divorce protagonist. The writing is pitch-perfect. It might be one of the best books ever written. It's just that the world changed when I was somewhere in the middle of it.
April 5, 2023
A tragi-comic observational comedy with sharp elbows, the tale of Eleanor, a woman coming to terms with her husband leaving her and her children not needing her. Written as a contemporary novel at the beginning of the 70s, the world may have changed, but the themes still resonate, as does the acerbic wit.
June 26, 2023
It’s widely recognised that the British author, journalist and critic Penelope Mortimer mined her life as a source of inspiration for her books. Her most famous novel, The Pumpkin Eater, which I’ve yet to read, was based on the author’s troubled marriage to the barrister, writer and serial philanderer, John Mortimer, a union that lasted for 22 years.
First published in 1971 and recently reissued as part of the excellent British Library Women Writers series, The Home is something of a spiritual successor to that earlier book, also candid and semi-autobiographical in style. In short, the novel follows an attractive but vulnerable middle-aged woman, Eleanor Strathearn, in the months following the breakdown of her marriage as she attempts to establish some kind of life for herself, while also delving into the meaning of ‘home’ with all its various connotations.
The story opens with Eleanor and her youngest child, fifteen-year-old Philip, moving from their longstanding family home in London to a smaller residence near St John’s Wood. The new house is being paid for by Eleanor’s husband, Graham, a successful but self-absorbed doctor with a well-heeled Wimpole Street practice. In one of this novel’s many ironies, Graham seems to have paid little attention to his wife’s emotional well-being over the past twenty-six years despite his professional specialism being mental health. Instead, he has indulged in multiple indiscreet affairs, culminating in his current liaison with Nell Partwhistle, a twenty-two-year-old girl who remains something of a nebulous presence throughout the book.
He [Graham] had left her [Eleanor] six weeks ago for some unimaginable life with a twenty-two-year-old person called Nell Partwhistle. Eleanor thought of her as a person because she could not think of her as a girl and did not think of her as a woman; she thought of her as a kind of gap, a nothing. (pp. 4-5)
By naming the girl in this way, Mortimer is emphasising the idea that Graham has simply discarded Eleanor for a younger model, albeit one known by the shortened name of ‘Nell’.
With her other grown-up children – Marcus, Cressida, Daphne and Jessica – having flown the nest, Eleanor approaches her new life with a strange mix of feelings, oscillating wildly between stoic optimism and crushing grief. In her most upbeat moments, she imagines a world of parties and dinners, a woman constantly in demand. Quite how this transformation might be achieved, however, is far from clear, investing this vision with an air of fantasy from the opening scenes.
She had no clear idea about how she would set about this transformation, since after a life sentence of marriage she was as isolated, as strange to the world as a released prisoner. She had long ago stopped sharing any kind of life with Graham, except for the occasional dull dinner party when she could be used as a wife. Nevertheless, it was a cheerful fantasy… (p. 6)
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2023...
First published in 1971 and recently reissued as part of the excellent British Library Women Writers series, The Home is something of a spiritual successor to that earlier book, also candid and semi-autobiographical in style. In short, the novel follows an attractive but vulnerable middle-aged woman, Eleanor Strathearn, in the months following the breakdown of her marriage as she attempts to establish some kind of life for herself, while also delving into the meaning of ‘home’ with all its various connotations.
The story opens with Eleanor and her youngest child, fifteen-year-old Philip, moving from their longstanding family home in London to a smaller residence near St John’s Wood. The new house is being paid for by Eleanor’s husband, Graham, a successful but self-absorbed doctor with a well-heeled Wimpole Street practice. In one of this novel’s many ironies, Graham seems to have paid little attention to his wife’s emotional well-being over the past twenty-six years despite his professional specialism being mental health. Instead, he has indulged in multiple indiscreet affairs, culminating in his current liaison with Nell Partwhistle, a twenty-two-year-old girl who remains something of a nebulous presence throughout the book.
He [Graham] had left her [Eleanor] six weeks ago for some unimaginable life with a twenty-two-year-old person called Nell Partwhistle. Eleanor thought of her as a person because she could not think of her as a girl and did not think of her as a woman; she thought of her as a kind of gap, a nothing. (pp. 4-5)
By naming the girl in this way, Mortimer is emphasising the idea that Graham has simply discarded Eleanor for a younger model, albeit one known by the shortened name of ‘Nell’.
With her other grown-up children – Marcus, Cressida, Daphne and Jessica – having flown the nest, Eleanor approaches her new life with a strange mix of feelings, oscillating wildly between stoic optimism and crushing grief. In her most upbeat moments, she imagines a world of parties and dinners, a woman constantly in demand. Quite how this transformation might be achieved, however, is far from clear, investing this vision with an air of fantasy from the opening scenes.
She had no clear idea about how she would set about this transformation, since after a life sentence of marriage she was as isolated, as strange to the world as a released prisoner. She had long ago stopped sharing any kind of life with Graham, except for the occasional dull dinner party when she could be used as a wife. Nevertheless, it was a cheerful fantasy… (p. 6)
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2023...
September 21, 2024
A poignant, thoughtful, sad and somewhat frustrating novel...but just so good!
I seem to have a hard time with mid-century novels that are incredibly well-written, but which also deal with difficult themes. (I definitely prefer a light story with sparkle and a happy ending!) In this case, I was torn between loving the writing and feeling very depressed by the subject matter.
The reader follows Eleanor Strathearn, her husband Graham (who she is newly separated from) and their grown-up children Marcus, Daphne, Cressida, Jessica and Phillip at the beginning of the separation. The story was exhausting, but also completely engrossing. I could not put this book down for any length of time because I had to know what was going to happen next.
From that statement, you would assume that this book by Penelope Mortimer was fast paced and suspenseful, but it's not. Even though it's on the slow side, the personalities of the characters create an atmosphere that is additive to read. On the other hand, being in the mind of Eleanor (while she struggles with the separation from her cheating husband and moving into a new home) is very claustrophobic. My mind almost felt like it was struggling to breathe while reading...if that makes any sense.
Eleanor is lonely, has no skills to speak of (except as a mother), no motivation and is longing for a male companion to fill the place of Graham. I felt so much pity (but also a lot of frustration) with her thoughts and actions while reading this book.
And, in fact, the new (or even old) home of the Strathearn family has very little (if anything) to do with the story. There are only the barest details of both homes and absolutely no cozy domestic details. On the whole, the novel focuses on the breakdown of Eleanor, her mind, her body and her soul during this time period. You also learn how Eleanor's children and their father Graham are handling this transition as time goes on.
Overall, it's not an uplifting or hopeful story. But, strangely, I really enjoyed reading The Home. Again, thank goodness for Simon Thomas' Afterward—it truly helped in wrapping up the story for me and providing me insights on the time period and background of the novel. Before reading this section at the end of the novel, I was feeling a little confused—with a "that's the ending??" feeling.
A great addition to the British Library Women Writers series! Now, I'm interested in reading another piece of work by Penelope Mortimer.
I seem to have a hard time with mid-century novels that are incredibly well-written, but which also deal with difficult themes. (I definitely prefer a light story with sparkle and a happy ending!) In this case, I was torn between loving the writing and feeling very depressed by the subject matter.
The reader follows Eleanor Strathearn, her husband Graham (who she is newly separated from) and their grown-up children Marcus, Daphne, Cressida, Jessica and Phillip at the beginning of the separation. The story was exhausting, but also completely engrossing. I could not put this book down for any length of time because I had to know what was going to happen next.
From that statement, you would assume that this book by Penelope Mortimer was fast paced and suspenseful, but it's not. Even though it's on the slow side, the personalities of the characters create an atmosphere that is additive to read. On the other hand, being in the mind of Eleanor (while she struggles with the separation from her cheating husband and moving into a new home) is very claustrophobic. My mind almost felt like it was struggling to breathe while reading...if that makes any sense.
Eleanor is lonely, has no skills to speak of (except as a mother), no motivation and is longing for a male companion to fill the place of Graham. I felt so much pity (but also a lot of frustration) with her thoughts and actions while reading this book.
And, in fact, the new (or even old) home of the Strathearn family has very little (if anything) to do with the story. There are only the barest details of both homes and absolutely no cozy domestic details. On the whole, the novel focuses on the breakdown of Eleanor, her mind, her body and her soul during this time period. You also learn how Eleanor's children and their father Graham are handling this transition as time goes on.
Overall, it's not an uplifting or hopeful story. But, strangely, I really enjoyed reading The Home. Again, thank goodness for Simon Thomas' Afterward—it truly helped in wrapping up the story for me and providing me insights on the time period and background of the novel. Before reading this section at the end of the novel, I was feeling a little confused—with a "that's the ending??" feeling.
A great addition to the British Library Women Writers series! Now, I'm interested in reading another piece of work by Penelope Mortimer.
November 2, 2024
Much less impressive than "The Pumpkin Eater" and "Daddy's Gone a-hunting", but highly readable. After more than 25 years of a passionate marriage during which both parties had affairs, Graham, a cynical but successful psychiatrist, ups and leaves his wife Eleanor for a younger woman who bears the same first name. Ouch! Eleanor immediately throws herself into buying an awkward house which will be the new "home" for their 5 children, Marcus, Cressida, Daphne, Jessica and Philip. The problem is that Marcus already lives in Paris his partner Marcel, Cressida is desperate to have a child with a married American who lives in Virginia, and Philip, the only minor, is at boarding school. Daphne already has a job and a boyfriend, while Jessica has a puppy and a boyfriend. Eleanor tries to be gallant about the whole thing, and pins her hopes on an Irishman she met a party once. Convinced they are meant for each other, she gradually has to admit to herself after Patrick cancels one date after another at the last minute that this romance is but a figment of her imagination. Two former lovers, Alex and Ellis, who have remained good friends to her, turn out to have other priorities than look after her. Alex is about to move in with a new girlfriend and Ellis starts an affair with Cressida under her nose. In desperation she makes a half-hearted attempt to go out with a kind but crass movie producer who is the father of one of Philip's classmates. Although Max gives her generous oral sex, Eleanor realizes that there's no future in this relationship either. At the end of the book, grateful for the slightest scrap of attention, she goes home with a young lesbian who is a pillar of her local pub. A sensitive description of what happens when a middle-aged woman gets dropped by her husband just as she becomes an empty-nester.
July 1, 2023
A surprisingly enjoyable book that I think deftly covered a number of really interesting themes and shifts in social structure that came to light in the 1970s. Eleanor was a fascinating character - she had such depth and warmth that I felt like I knew her so well by the end of the book. The supporting cast of characters (all unique sad individuals who seemed very real too) were a real delight as well, and I don't think there was a single page of this that I didn't enjoy.
The wry humour. The commentary on the rising number of divorces and the fallout these create - everything was pitch perfect, and by the end I was sad to see the characters go.
I will definitely be hunting out more books by Penelope Mortimer!
The wry humour. The commentary on the rising number of divorces and the fallout these create - everything was pitch perfect, and by the end I was sad to see the characters go.
I will definitely be hunting out more books by Penelope Mortimer!
November 17, 2023
Hmm. Obviously somewhat autobiographical, husband and wife separate, lots of grown up children and somewhat bohemian shenanigans. Very early 70s with respect to casual affairs, but the jarring thing for me was the lack of any feminism. The wife and daughters are mostly passive, not living in the real world as there is always a man to pay and come to the rescue. Loved The Pumpkin Eater but this was interesting to read rather than good.
January 17, 2025
Um, why am I now obsessed with the idea of a whiskey on the rocks with a cigarette and a side of mummy troubles? This book was perfection! A hidden gem, Penelope Mortimer is the original Odessa Moshfegh and I lapped this up. Beautiful, hilarious, modern. The scandal, the Britishness, the family drama - delicious. Possibly may already have found one of my best books of the year, and I bet Penelope Mortimer was a fitty as well..
June 5, 2023
Very happy with this. Solid writing. Reads like a Saturday night in the 70's. Stylistically sharp. Loved the 70's cover. Disappointed that they didn't list ALL of the remaining books in the British Women Writer's series in the back of the book. A fantastic effort. This book is to her credit. Well done.
October 5, 2023
I enjoyed reading this novel and found the characters well drawn. Eleanor is a complicated person and sometimes cannot make up her mind what to do when her life changes after Graham, her husband moves in with a much younger woman. How will it all end? It's worth reading to find out .
How would you react if in her situation.?
How would you react if in her situation.?
Want to read
May 26, 2022I learned of this book here: https://www.stuckinabook.com/the-home...
October 10, 2023
Glad to have read it.
February 3, 2024
I have the British Library Women Writer series. A bit depressing but realistic.
February 18, 2025
Read for book club.. dull at times but painted a good picture of being a woman in that time period
June 23, 2025
It was well done, I just don’t enjoy reading about such immature characters
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews