The Glowing Hours
In 1920,s Birmingham three girls from very different backgrounds
set out with one dream, to dance.
Nell escapes from a home in the slums and from a violent and abusive Father, who believes that any wage that his daughter earns belongs to him.
Kitty has everything material, wealth and a fantastic home, but an uncaring family; no known Father and a Mother who is greatly involved in the suffrage movement and spends little or no time at home.
Gwyneth has both Mother and Father, but her Father is a bigoted preacher, who allows Gwyneth no freedom and her Mother is a defeated woman, too tired to fight for her daughter.
Through a series of coincidences, the three girls meet and an unlikely friendship is formed, fuelled by their common goal: to dance at the Folies-Bergere.
They begin dancing classes and are soon caught up in moment, and although Kitty is not as commited as Gwyneth and Nell, all three realise their dream to dance in Paris.
Gwyneth and Nell are soon caught up in Kitty's society life and their lives begin to change. Gwyneth is attracted to Tomothy, one of Kitty's society friends, but realises that marriage to him is a mistake, because of the difference in their backgrounds and also that she wishes to continue dancing in Paris.
Kitty, from boredom, decides to give up dancing and after a string of wealthy and often married suitors, marries a rich Italian Prince, who is much older than she, then puts a brave face on the mistake she realises she has made.
Nell has always been in love with one of Kitty's acquaintances, Paul a Doctor , and he with her. Nell, however, believes herself not to be good enough and unsuitable as his wife. Instead she is pusued by Tom, someone more from her own class, a social climber, who has come good and risen up the ladder in the union movement. After a series of unfortunate events, when Tom is revealed in his true colours, convinced that he his doing Nell a great honour by wanting to marry her, Paul eventually shows his hand and proposes to Nell.
This book was first published in 1988, but I have only just come across it, buried deep in the shelves of my bookcase. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it immensely. Marina Oliver writes with a great sensitivity about the nature of the times. The fickle nature of many of the wealthy classes, who flit from thing to thing and person to person, generally through boredom, but seemingly without a care to anyone elses feelings. Then the other end of the spectrum, where people live in slums and squalor, often with several children, many of whom did not survive. Violence and abuse is an accepted scenario and to break free and try to better yourself, almost an impossibility, without taking drastic action, from which there is no going back.
Marina Oliver has written several books and can be found at: www.marina-oliver.net
Nell escapes from a home in the slums and from a violent and abusive Father, who believes that any wage that his daughter earns belongs to him.
Kitty has everything material, wealth and a fantastic home, but an uncaring family; no known Father and a Mother who is greatly involved in the suffrage movement and spends little or no time at home.
Gwyneth has both Mother and Father, but her Father is a bigoted preacher, who allows Gwyneth no freedom and her Mother is a defeated woman, too tired to fight for her daughter.
Through a series of coincidences, the three girls meet and an unlikely friendship is formed, fuelled by their common goal: to dance at the Folies-Bergere.
They begin dancing classes and are soon caught up in moment, and although Kitty is not as commited as Gwyneth and Nell, all three realise their dream to dance in Paris.
Gwyneth and Nell are soon caught up in Kitty's society life and their lives begin to change. Gwyneth is attracted to Tomothy, one of Kitty's society friends, but realises that marriage to him is a mistake, because of the difference in their backgrounds and also that she wishes to continue dancing in Paris.
Kitty, from boredom, decides to give up dancing and after a string of wealthy and often married suitors, marries a rich Italian Prince, who is much older than she, then puts a brave face on the mistake she realises she has made.
Nell has always been in love with one of Kitty's acquaintances, Paul a Doctor , and he with her. Nell, however, believes herself not to be good enough and unsuitable as his wife. Instead she is pusued by Tom, someone more from her own class, a social climber, who has come good and risen up the ladder in the union movement. After a series of unfortunate events, when Tom is revealed in his true colours, convinced that he his doing Nell a great honour by wanting to marry her, Paul eventually shows his hand and proposes to Nell.
This book was first published in 1988, but I have only just come across it, buried deep in the shelves of my bookcase. I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed it immensely. Marina Oliver writes with a great sensitivity about the nature of the times. The fickle nature of many of the wealthy classes, who flit from thing to thing and person to person, generally through boredom, but seemingly without a care to anyone elses feelings. Then the other end of the spectrum, where people live in slums and squalor, often with several children, many of whom did not survive. Violence and abuse is an accepted scenario and to break free and try to better yourself, almost an impossibility, without taking drastic action, from which there is no going back.
Marina Oliver has written several books and can be found at: www.marina-oliver.net
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