The Home

Description

... marvellous skill - a writer who can knock spots off most of her contemporaries. - The Guardian 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.

Penelope Mortimer (1918-1999) published her first novel in 1947. She was married twice; first to the Reuters journalist Charles Dimont, and later to the barrister and author, John Mortimer. Her best-known novel, the semi-autobiographical The Pumpkin Eater, was published in 1962 and made into a successful film starring Anne Bancroft.