National Network for Equitable Library Service

Two high school friends take very different paths during WWII. The traditional Angie falls in love—forever—with a sailor, whose life is suddenly ended by a German torpedo, while her friend Dorothy attempts something unheard of in the forties: going to law school. Newfoundland during the wartime forties was hardly Rosie the Riveter Country. So, when Angie loses her sailor lover and marries the boy next door—who turns out to be a sexual sadist—she fears there is no way out. She turns to her friend Dorothy, a woman lawyer at a time when such aspirations seemed impossible. But it’s what happens after that, in a world where feminism did not exist, that’s surprising—and unsettling. This novel is a tale of loss, female friendship, and of a time long past, when being a woman had few advantages, and many disadvantages. Filled with tragedy, magic realism, and humour, this novel paints a picture of women’s lives in the forties, and of the prevailing and enduring power of female friendship.