The Friendly Young Ladies
The Friendly Young Ladies by Mary Renault, published by Virago in 2014, is a 336-page novel that explores the life of seventeen-year-old Elsie, who feels trapped in her unhappy home in a Cornish village. When she falls for Peter, an ambitious London doctor, she decides to leave her stifling environment to live with her sister Leonora, who has embraced a more unconventional lifestyle. This transition leads Elsie into a world filled with surprises and challenges as she navigates her new surroundings.
Readers will find a blend of romance and social commentary as the story unfolds around Elsie’s experiences with her sister and Peter. The narrative delves into themes of personal freedom and the complexities of relationships, particularly as Elsie encounters the bohemian lifestyle of Leonora and her partner, Helen. The novel, written in 1943, presents a witty and stylish take on the societal norms of the time, offering insights into the lives of women and their choices.
Official synopsis Publisher
Elsie, sheltered and naive, is seventeen and unhappy. Stifled by life with her bickering parents in a bleak Cornish village, she falls in love with the first presentable young man she meets – Peter, an ambitious London doctor. On his advice she runs away from home and goes to live with her sister Leonora, who escaped eight years earlier.
But there are surprises in store for conventional Elsie as her sister has a rather bohemian lifestyle: not only does Leo live in a houseboat on the Thames where she writes Westerns for a living, she shares her boat – and her bed – with Helen. When Peter pays a visit, turning his attention from one ‘friendly young lady’ to the next, he disturbs the calm for each of them – with results unforeseen by all . . .
Mary Renault wrote this delightfully provocative novel in 1943 partly in answer to the despair characteristic of Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness. The result is this witty and stylish social comedy.
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