Journal Entry 1 by catsalive from Rooty Hill, New South Wales Australia on Monday, October 20, 2008

back cover:
The Flight of the Maidens describes the post-war summer of 1946 - and follows three young women in the months between leaving school and taking up their scholarships at university: Una Vane, whose widowed mother runs a hairdressing salon in her front room (Maison Vane Glory - Where Permanent Waves are Permanent), goes bicycling with Ray, the boy who delivers the fish and milk; Hetty Fallowes struggles to become independent of her possessive, loving, tactless mother; and Lieselotte Klein, who had arrived in 1939 on a train from Hamburg, uncovers tragedy in the past and magic in the present.

'A formidably intelligent, gentle comic genius' A. N. Wilson, Spectator

'Gardam blends memory and imagination, intellect and humour, to evoke unsentimentally a vanished England, setting it in the context of the wider world and capturing the bittersweet excitement of leaving childhood behind' Daily Telegraph 

Journal Entry 2 by catsalive at Australia, RABCK -- Controlled Releases on Friday, September 04, 2009

Released 2 yrs ago (9/4/2009 UTC) at Australia, RABCK -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Journal Entry 3 by livrecache from Hobart, Tasmania Australia on Saturday, October 03, 2009

Sorry, I didn't journal this book when I updated bookobsessed. I've read it already, and enjoyed it. I was just in the mood for something like this.

Flight of the Maidens, set in the summer of 1946, gives us an interesting portrait of down-trodden, war-shadowed Britain. It follows the different trajectories of three girls, each creating story a lovely tale about maturity and heartbreak. Hettie, smothered and tormented by her mother, escapes to study in the Lake District, while Una finds refuge and romance biking through the English countryside. Leiselotte, a German Jew separted from her parents during Kristalnacht, leaves England for the excess and wealth of America. While Hetty struggles with feelings toward her mother, Una experiences both a sensual and sexual awakening. Lieselotte, perhaps undergoing the greatest change, emerges after her American summer like a butterfly from a cocoon, coming to terms with her Jewish heritage.

Gardham successfully weaves these stories together, creating three tales, each magnificent on its own. The novel charts this liminal summer in a succint, overlapping narrative style. Even the secondary characters are well-wrought, particularly Hetty's mother.