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A Sensible Life
by
Mary Wesley
Flora Trevelyan is a ten-year-old misfit, despised by her selfish and indolent parents, and left to wander the streets of a small French town whilst her parents prepare to depart for life in colonial India. There she befriends the locals, acquires an extensive vocabulary of French foul language and encounters the privileged lifestyle of the elegant, middle-class British fa...more
Paperback, 384 pages
Published
June 1st 2006
by Vintage
(first published 1990)
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A cross between Anita Brookner and Ivy Compton-Burnett, I think. I’ve heard Barbara Pym thrown around as well but I didn’t quite see it; Wesley isn't as cozy and smooth. Also Jane Austen, but nah. People have said Anita Brookner's like Jane Austen too but no. Just because you're a lady writing about domestic lady things with marriage at the end doesn't make you like Jane Austen.
I actually considered abandoning this book during the first chapter because I couldn’t get into the writing style, but...more
I actually considered abandoning this book during the first chapter because I couldn’t get into the writing style, but...more
A charming book with impossible coincidences, evocative of the period between the wars in England, then jumping in a few half-decade leaps. I felt most for Flora, the main character, with her sad childhood and determination to make her own way. Wesley shows people gripped with their own needs, no surprise there, but some do manage to find an intersection with others. I enjoyed the leisurely pace, the absence of melodrama. I'll read more Wesley.
This novel was a good companion for a trip. At times I forgot I wasn't reading 19th-century literature and came across overt sexual passages that brought me back into the present.
Jul 27, 2011
Ilsabe
added it
I love this book. I'm not sure I wholeheartedly like any of the characters, but every time I read it I notice something different.
not as flowing as the others-post WW I English
vacationing in France- a bit stuffy
vacationing in France- a bit stuffy
I love Mary Wesley's books. I read them all in Danish a long time ago.
Rich writing, really made me feel the story.
Boring and filled with lameness.
nothing like The Camomille Lawn... Sloa-paced, slow-moving, slow... Bored me to death, almost didn't finish it.
So glad I do not live in the 30s in England.
Feb 07, 2012
Lemongrass
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
women and men with romantic leanings
This is a glorious story of love, so evocative of all that was English at the time of the Second World War. Mary Wesley's novels lift my heart time and again. Her heroines are so sexy and her attitudes so challenging. There's no real doubt that she's my favourite author, and this book exemplifies everything that's good in her writing.
Little Flora makes friends with holidaymakers, and finds herself falling in love. The book is about her growing up and learning about life. Reassuring if rather too many coincidences, and pleasant enough characters on the whole.
Realistic about the choices people make.
May 24, 2013
Claire
marked it as to-read
May 14, 2013
Christine Sharp
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May 12, 2013
Sarah Jackson
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May 12, 2013
Betsy Moore
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May 09, 2013
Abbie
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May 06, 2013
Pippa
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Apr 30, 2013
Jennifer
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Mary Wesley, CBE (24 June 1912 – 30 December 2002) was a English novelist. She reportedly worked in MI5 during World War II.[citation needed]During her career, she became one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including 10 best-sellers in the last 20 years of her life.
She wrote three children's books, Speaking Terms and The Sixth Seal (both 1969) and...more
More about Mary Wesley...
She wrote three children's books, Speaking Terms and The Sixth Seal (both 1969) and...more
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