The Flight Of The Maidens (Paperback, New Ed)

It is 1946. Three 17-year-old Yorkshire schoolgirls are poised to enter university having all been awarded important state scholarships. Hetty Fallowes, daughter of a scatty mother and intellectual father mentally damaged by World War I, is off to London. Una Vane, daughter of a widowed self-taught hairdresser (Masion Vane Glory) and Lieselotte Klein, German-Jewish refugee, are going up to Cambridge. But before them lie three glorious months of freedom. Hetty takes to the Yorkshire moors to work at an isolated bed-and-breakfast, but stumbles into an Alice in Wonderland enclave of eccentric aristocrats; Una goes Youth Hostelling with Ray, who sold fish back home but has hidden depths, such as blowing on her naked back when she's cold ('It's an Alpine technique'). Lieselotte, adopted into a London household cluttered with priceless treasures but with nowhere to sleep, discovers the city with growing delight and wonder. All three new lives, each very different, are in their ways strange and magical. We leave them as autumn colours begin to fade, eyes widened, brains alert, fresh-footing it into their academic futures. A captivating novel, much enhanced by Gardam's verbal dexterity and impish sense of fun. (Kirkus UK)

This delightful novel describes the post-war summer of 1946 - and follows the growing-up of three young women in the months between leaving school and taking up their scholarships at university. Una Vane, whose widowed mother runs a hairdressing salon in her front room ('Maison Vane Glory - Where Permanent Waves are Permanent'), goes bicycling with Ray, the boy who delivers the fish and milk. Hetty Fallowes struggles to become independent of her possessive, loving, tactless mother. And Lieselotte Klein, who had arrived in 1939 on a train from Hamburg, uncovers tragedy in the past and magic in the present. Rooted in the north of England, THE FLIGHT OF THE MAIDENS is peopled with extraordinary characters, who are evoked with all the humour, compassion and eye for detail that mark Jane Gardam as one of Britain's most gifted and original novelists.

General

Imprint:	Abacus
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	October 2001
Authors:	Jane Gardam
Dimensions:	197 x 126 x 19mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - B-format
Pages:	278
Edition:	New Ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-349-11424-8
Categories:	Books > Fiction > General & literary fiction > Modern fiction
LSN:	0-349-11424-2
Barcode:	9780349114248

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