This is a most intriguing study of what it meant to be a feminist in the early 1900's. We are given a hint - the merest intimation - that a woman might be able to live a sort of fulfilling life without a man. But the doting attention at least two out of the three women in this story lavish on the rather ordinary, albeit inoffensive, returning soldier can be a bit hard to take. And the stereotypes of the British class system, which purport to be challenged here, are actually reinforced with every successive vivid word of description.

What kept me reading was the intriguing study of a damaged mind and the dilemma presented to those trying to cope with a very difficult situation. This is not a book you'll be likely to put down before the last page.