by Jane Gardam
First published 1978
Margaret Marsh spends Wednesday afternoons wandering the English coast with the family's spirited new maid while her baby brother stays home with their parents. The eight-year-old has plenty of time to watch the grown-ups make poor choices. Her zealous father pushes his religious beliefs on everyone around him, particularly the maid who wants nothing to do with his conversion efforts. Margaret's mother Elinor grows tired of her husband's saintly behavior and his demanding faith. When Elinor's old sweetheart returns to their seaside town, he offers everything her religious husband does not. The tension builds toward a tea party that changes everything for the Marsh family. Margaret observes it all with the clear eyes of childhood, seeing how love and desire can destroy the people she depends on. Gardam places readers inside a child's perspective as the adult world crumbles around her in the peaceful years between the wars.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-driven, unreliable-narrator
Setting: England
Period: Between the Wars
173 pages · Hardcover · Hamish Hamilton Ltd