Christine Dwyer Hickey

The Lives of Women

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The stunning new novel from Christine Dwyer Hickey, bestselling author of Last Train from Liguria.
'One of Ireland's most lauded modern writers, Christine Dwyer Hickey teases out the strands of her story… It leaves the reader with the aftertaste of regret for their own what might have been…' — Daily Mail
Following a long absence spent in New York, Elaine Nichols returns to her childhood home to live with her invalid father and his geriatric Alsatian dog. The house backing on to theirs is sold and as she watches the old furniture stack up on the lawn, Elaine is brought back to a summer in the 1970s.
She is almost sixteen again and this small out-of-town estate is an enclave for women and children while the men are mysterious shadows who leave every day for the outside world. The women are isolated but keep their loneliness and frustrations hidden behind a veneer of suburban respectability. When an American divorcee and her daughter move into the estate, the veneer begins to crack. The women learn how to socialise, how to drink martinis in the afternoon, how to care less about their wifely and maternal duties.
While the women are distracted, Elaine and her friends find their own entry into the adult world and the result is a tragic event that will mark the rest of Elaine's life and be the cause of her long and guilt-ridden exile.
Insightful and full of suspense, this is an uncompromising portrayal of the suburbs and the cruelties brought about by the demands of respectability.
This book is currently unavailable
239 printed pages
Copyright owner
Bookwire
Original publication
2015
Publication year
2015
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Impressions

  • Dariashared an impression5 years ago
    👍Worth reading
    🔮Hidden Depths
    💡Learnt A Lot

Quotes

  • Dariahas quoted5 years ago
    And she cries because Karl’s father hits Karl’s mother and men rape their wives and go off with other women and sometimes even go off with their daughters’ friends.
  • Dariahas quoted5 years ago
    ‘Oh, busy as ever, you know. Busy.’
  • Dariahas quoted5 years ago
    Whatever else about him, I could never say he was mean with his money.

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