The Cauliflower Heart

by Marian G. Champagne

This college novel follows the lives of a group of girls who meet while attending Smith College in the late 1930's.

389 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1944

Reviews

[Robert Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fictional depiction of a group of Smith College students in the late 1930s when the author attended there. The characterizations are a little too pat—here's the snob, here's beautiful ingenue, here's the cynical climber, etc. But does give a taste of the era and the campus dynamics.

[Grayson · Rating 5 out of 5]

ok this is actually more like a 4.5 because the first two parts were far better than the last. the ending was boring and all over the place once helen marries boyd and i was just over it. but before that i was literally so obsessed that i stayed up all night to finish it. also the lesbian subplot needed to be more in depth but i respect it for being 1944 and not like, homophobic? i was kind of shocked. it felt less like a romance and more of a power play thing by lillian though (who is an anti hero baddie and honestly probably the most interesting character) i need to read the group next because i feel like mary mccarthy must’ve reheated this novel’s plot. i genuinely have a lot of thoughts about this book and i need there to be a reprinting so i can get more people to read it. side note but the scene where lillian and margaret are walking by paradise pond at their reunion genuinely made me feel such deep nostalgia for smith like marion champagne knew what she was doing there