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The Flight Of The Maidens
by
Jane Gardam
"Gardam can see deep into the hearts of both parents and children as the balance of power tips . . . her sly style is perfect for this muted but primal struggle." (The New York Times Book Review)
"This novel about a friendship among three 17-year old girls powerfully evokes the people and the period at the end of WWII...At turns hugely funny and deeply movi...more
"This novel about a friendship among three 17-year old girls powerfully evokes the people and the period at the end of WWII...At turns hugely funny and deeply movi...more
Published
(first published 2000)
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The interconnected stories of three 17 year old girls living in a small Yorkshire town in which everyone knows each other, and which seems to bear few physical and mental scars from the recently ended second world war.
We first meet the girls altogether just after they have heard that they have won university scholarships, about which they are full of excitement and uncertainty; we then drift in and out of their separate and very different journeys of self-doubt and self-discovery dur...more
We first meet the girls altogether just after they have heard that they have won university scholarships, about which they are full of excitement and uncertainty; we then drift in and out of their separate and very different journeys of self-doubt and self-discovery dur...more
Jane Gardam's novels are small miracles. Like looking through both ends of a telescope at once, her stories and characters are crystal clear and at the same time infinitely close and infinitely far away; you see a very big picture by seeing a very small segment in its tiniest details.
In Flight of the Maidens, three school friends follow unexpected and widely diverging paths in rural England during the summer of 1946, before they are to enter renowned universities on prestigious scho...more
In Flight of the Maidens, three school friends follow unexpected and widely diverging paths in rural England during the summer of 1946, before they are to enter renowned universities on prestigious scho...more
This is my third Jane Gardam book this year, and while it isn't my favorite book of hers (so far its Old Filth), I still really enjoy this woman’s writing. I think I’ve stumbled on a pattern though. It seems that Jane and I don’t get along through the first few chapters. It seems for the other two titles I’ve read of hers as well, I just don’t know what the hell is going on for a good 50 pages. She’s a big proponent of not making things too obvious to the point that you seriously have to ma...more
Three girls come of age in the weeks after they emerge from school. All of them are poor, all have won scholarships to elite English colleges.
It is Yorkshire in 1946. The background characters are passionate people who like to be seen as generous and self-sacrificing. They also tend to be petty and narrow, repressed and stunted, prone to selfishness and narcissism. There is the legacy of the puritan era, and laid over that, the first world war’s residue of widowhood, spinsterhood ...more
It is Yorkshire in 1946. The background characters are passionate people who like to be seen as generous and self-sacrificing. They also tend to be petty and narrow, repressed and stunted, prone to selfishness and narcissism. There is the legacy of the puritan era, and laid over that, the first world war’s residue of widowhood, spinsterhood ...more
I almost put down The Flight of the Maidens about half-way because I got bored, but I'm so glad I didn't. It tells the story of three seventeen year-old girls in Yorkshire just after WWII. The books opens when all have received scholarships to good universities, and then goes on from there--the next few months of their lives.
What I liked was the depiction of friendship, relationships of two of them to their mothers, the way they view the war, and the constant return to male characters who...more
What I liked was the depiction of friendship, relationships of two of them to their mothers, the way they view the war, and the constant return to male characters who...more
This was a lovely novel, I read it in a little over 24 hours and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was fascinated by the story of Lieselotte, a German Jew, who had come to yorkshire as a ten year old in 1939. All three girls however have a summer that in some way changes their lives. There are both poignat and hugely funny moments, and so much that rings true - after all we have all been 17. The writing is great, and the characterisation is brilliant - Hetty's mother is a truly awful - and at the same ti...more
I enjoyed this book. It was a nice, light read. I don't necessarily mean that it wasn't a little depressing -- just that it reads quickly and easily.
As I read it I was reminded of how many people I've recently heard say that they prefer little boys to girls because the latter are too difficult to parent. I think that is utter bullshit. I notice, too, how often boys are preferred by extended family as I watch friends and acquaintances blatantly fawn over sons, nephews, and grandsons whe...more
As I read it I was reminded of how many people I've recently heard say that they prefer little boys to girls because the latter are too difficult to parent. I think that is utter bullshit. I notice, too, how often boys are preferred by extended family as I watch friends and acquaintances blatantly fawn over sons, nephews, and grandsons whe...more
This was a fairly quick read, as it's under 300 pages, and chronicles the lives of three young girls about in enter college after WWII. It was interesting, fun, and light-hearted reading. It was easy for me to relate to since I was recently an 18 year old looking forward to beginning my life away from home and on my own, but some of the language took a little thought (there was a lot of 1940s British in here).
Still, I generally found it pretty entertaining. Not my favorite, but certai...more
Still, I generally found it pretty entertaining. Not my favorite, but certai...more
This is such an odd book. Parts of it are glorious - Liselotte's story, in particular, and Una's mother, and the descriptions of the countryside that give the book such a sense of place. But ultimately it falls flat - we've learned about these three lives and the burgeoning sense of self each girl has, but we go nowhere with it. Everyone's more or less the same at the end of the book as they were at the beginning, despite everything that happens. Strange thing.
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I found this book slow and tedious. I kept waiting for something to happen. The most interesting character should have been Liselotte. But, she was almost a postscript to the other 2 characters. And, all the men in the story were somehow damaged and unreliable. Sorry, but I am not sure what the storyline was.
I found this book to be tedious. I couldn't care less about Hetty, Una or Lisolette. Hetty was a nasty brat with a strange, doting mother. Una was the most intresting to me - running around with Ray all summer -and Lisolette seemed almost nonexistent.
Usually I love WW II fiction, but this was a disappointment. Kind of reminded me of a Maeve Binchyin that each chapter was written from a different person's perspective and characters were intertwined... but not a book I'd recommend.
Larisa
rated it
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review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anne
Recommended to Larisa by:
Rebecca
This story of thee north England girls in the summer between school and university, a summer just after the end of World War II, was an engaging read. The story of Liselotte, a German Jewish refugee, unfolds further in the second half of the book and was the most fascinating and unexpected, but all three narratives held my interest and taught me more about a time and place I know very little about. Gardam weaves in hundreds of little details seamlessly, so I really felt I knew the places and peo...more
It was difficult for me to relate to the characters in the way they were presented, so it was appropriately difficult to finish. I kept hoping it would get better. Not the worst read, though.
I loved this book. Gardam is quickly becoming my new favorite author (just finished Old Filth). I love coming of age stories and this is written beautifully and with an incredible sensitivity to late adolescence.
I thought the ideas and emotions behind it all were lovely, and enjoyed the complex relationships and the complex time period, but I found the actual reading of the book to be slow going.
A flawless setup with beautifully precise writing to match. The plot begins to lose focus when Gardam's three protagonists hit the road, however, and many of the events that follow feel slightly random.
Ijust learned about Jane Gardam this year and The Flight of the Maidens was the 5th book of hers that I have read this year. The Maidens' summer was amazing
Audiobook...............Audiobook.............a lovely British, post WWII coming of age story of three young women. Completely simple, yet full of life wisdom. I really enjoyed this story.
Lovely book. The writing [and reading] seems effortless. Puts you in a different time and place -- teenagers in Yorkshire right after the war. Wide ranging. Lots of characters, but they come across as individuals not cardboard stereotypes.
How CAN there be so very many very excellent English novelists?!
"...a yellow, ragged sunset"
"The stubble fields bristled like pewter...."
"Looking back, she saw her footmarks winding up the field ...more
How CAN there be so very many very excellent English novelists?!
"...a yellow, ragged sunset"
"The stubble fields bristled like pewter...."
"Looking back, she saw her footmarks winding up the field ...more
I felt that all in all this book turned out to be an essentially unengaging coming of age novel.
This book is all about the characters and their coming of age. Nothing wrong with that. Enjoyable.
A coming-of-age novel, but not in a chick-lit way. 1946 Yorkshire - three girls have just won scholarships to University. Gardam continues to remind me of Penelope Fitzgerald; there's something about her economical style and how she doesn't spell everything out for you. Plus, there's a surreal quality to her work, in which it doesn't seem to matter that events are slightly implausible. I've read so much Anglo WWII stuff, but this one really gives a sense of what life was like for the young peop...more
This was *nice* but not amazing. Some great moments, rather slow-going.
Loved it! But the cover is really stupid.
set in 1946; literate and funny
couldn't get past the 3rd page
I don't know what it was about this book, but I just didn't connect with it.
In the middle of it- relates the story of three young women immediately after WWII. Two are British and one is a German Jew- they all have interesting events and stories to tell.
Somehow I've not given much thought to the aftermath of the second world war, so this is particularly interesting to me.
Somehow I've not given much thought to the aftermath of the second world war, so this is particularly interesting to me.
Have started this book a few time, but I have put it down as many times... not sure why - we're trying again.
Finished and it was thoroghly enjoyable... great descriptions of what England was like after the war. Love understanding critical moments in history. It is however a slower read, nothing in the plot line has you wondering what will happen next, so though a good read, you can put it down easily.
Finished and it was thoroghly enjoyable... great descriptions of what England was like after the war. Love understanding critical moments in history. It is however a slower read, nothing in the plot line has you wondering what will happen next, so though a good read, you can put it down easily.
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Jane Mary Gardam OBE is a British author of children's and adult fiction. She also reviews for the Spectator and the Telegraph, and writes for BBC radio. She lives in Kent, Wimbledon and Yorkshire. She has won numerous literary awards including the Whitbread Award, twice. She is mother of Tim Gardam, Principal of St Anne's College, Oxford. Jane has been awarded the Heywood Hill Literary Prize for ...more
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