1922: Mrs Wray and her daughter Frances have fallen on harder times in this book. Mr Wray has passed away and so have Frances’ brothers, leaving them alone in the villa, and impoverished. They have therefore taken in lodgers, a young married couple Leonard and Lilian Barber. Len is a clerk and Lil is a housewife, and since Frances does the lion share of the housework she often runs into Lil. The two young women strike up a friendship; they go on walks together, they read the same book so they can discuss it, and pretty soon Frances confides that she has been in love with a woman. The two women fall in love with each other, Frances is head over heels, and it seems like Lilian is too. When Len finds out he tries to choke Frances and this doesn’t end well for him.
I enjoyed this book, the relationship between Frances and Lilian developed slowly and quite organically. Or so it seems… when I got to the end of the book I wondered if it was all a ploy Lil used to get out of her marriage.
Read for the Read Between the Lines Reading Challenge 2024.
Prompt 27: LGBTQ+ Representation.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
