- Paperback: 383 pages
- Publisher: Virago Press Ltd; Reprint edition (18 Jun 1981)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 086068203X
- ISBN-13: 978-0860682035
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 506,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Anita Brookner
'...the first writer to filter her stories through a woman's feelings & perceptions'
Elizabeth Jane Howard
'She is immensely readable, acute, passionate, funny and original'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
We all know that They Never Leave Their Wives, and we know from the beginning that this book is unlikely to end happily for Olivia, its charming heroine. She's a nice middle-class girl, trying to live the bohemian life on no money in 1930s London; Rollo, her lover, is the heir to a baronetcy, rich, handsome, successful- and married. She's on a losing wicket from the start, but she can't resist him; soon she's staying in on the offchance he might call round and lying to her friends and family in the time-honoured manner. The reader is subtly shown that there are two truths here: on the one hand there is a genuine love story- Olivia and Rollo really love each other- but on the other, this is the account of Olivia's desperate struggle for the status, wealth and social acceptance she would get as the recognised partner of an alpha male like Rollo. The materialistic aspects of the affair are described in luscious detail- the emerald ring, the weekend trips in expensive cars, the extravagant lunches and lavish gifts of books and flowers- as are the glimpses of Rollo's wealthy lifestyle that make Olivia covet the position of his wife. To conclude: this is both a touching love story and a cynical account of the relations between men and women, all in Rosamond Lehmann's crisp, poetic, humorous prose.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Lehmann's novel seems to, with her lilting lovely prose, to describe the tragedy that love can be. In her unique style she describes Olivia's inner life in a way you wish you could describe your own. The beauty and lyricism with which she crystallises the pain that her heroine feels, and the lack of cliche when analysing an almost unavoidably cliched subject make this a truly beautiful novel. Or as someone else put it "a novel of tenderness".
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As another reviewer here has mentioned, we know from the start that there can be no happy ending to this story, and the fact that we already know the journey that the characters are to take, works brilliantly. Lehmann plays with the well-worn cliches of an affair between an independant-minded woman and her married lover, yet avoids writing in terms of cliches herself.
This is a haunting, beautifully-written and sensitive study of how we make choices that we know are wrong for us, and the inevitable disappointment that we are shoring up. And yet somehow this is a hopeful book too, with touches of comedy that lighten the atmosphere. Overall a sad book, that ought - but won't! - teach us something.
This is a haunting, beautifully-written and sensitive study of how we make choices that we know are wrong for us, and the inevitable disappointment that we are shoring up. And yet somehow this is a hopeful book too, with touches of comedy that lighten the atmosphere. Overall a sad book, that ought - but won't! - teach us something.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dated
I abandoned this after 40 or so pages, I'm afraid. It felt very dated and simply didn't hold my interest.
Published 8 months ago by JoTownhead
If you are 'The other woman' prepare to weep!
I love this book so much my paperback copy has loose pages.
On other web sites I have seen this book describes as 'dated' I can see where younger reviewers might be coming... Read more
On other web sites I have seen this book describes as 'dated' I can see where younger reviewers might be coming... Read more
Published 9 months ago by smartesthorse
Not Bridget Jones!
When I received this book I was immediately put off by the cover saying it is the Bridget Jones of its day. Yuck! I nearly just dumped it. Read more
Published on 30 April 2010 by Dostoyevsky
Olivia's below the surface commentary
First published in 1936 this book is extraordinarily modern, given that it encompasses the social and private life of a member of the distinctly upper middle classes, who might... Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
Hauntingly sad
I loved the depth of feeling in this book, although it was based over 60 years ago is a fresh and entertaining book to read with a deep message to anyone about to embark on an... Read more
Published on 21 July 2009 by Mrs. Bridget A. Steele
Whether to weather
Definitely yes. This is a fascinating book describing a life and mores that reveal the times more exactly than i have yet read. Read more
Published on 1 July 2009 by Ms. R. Medlam
A good but sad read
This novel is the story of Olivia, from Invitation to the Waltz, all grown up. Sadly the loveable, optimistic, naive 17 year old is now, in her 30's, a newly separated,... Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2008 by A. Baker
Good warning to women considering an affair
This well written book is a warning to all women embarking on an affair with a married man or considering it. Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2007 by Countess Olenska
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