Laura Willowes is one of those left-behind, yet
indispensable women who didn’t marry because WWI killed so many of the men of her
generation. As a spinster, she is expected to remain at home
to care for her aging father. She has a pleasant enough life in a comfortable
country home. Known as“Aunt Lolly,” she is loved by
her family but not thought of as an independent woman. When her father dies, she is sent, against
her will, to live with her brother’s family in London, where looking after
their children is part of the deal. Although
she is unhappy in London, she toughs it out until the children are grown and
she is middle-aged, at which point she suddenly and surprisingly decides to buy her own little place in
the countryside in an obscure little town.
But her brother has mismanaged her money, so she is only able to rent a
small room. Despite the disappointment of giving up part of her dream, she moves away. It is in the second half of
the book that Lolly comes into her own – as a witch who has made a pact with
Satan. Presaging Virginia Woolf’s A room of one’s own, by three years, the
author has much to say about the status of women in society. An unexpected pleasure. 230 pp.
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