The Home

Penelope Mortimer

Paperback

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A tragi-comedy published in 1971 that looks at the experience of a woman escaping a broken marriage and trying to make a new home for grown-up children who no longer need her.

Dealing with themes of abandonment, loneliness, liberation and love, Eleanor's emotional journey is often raw and dark, but at times funny and uplifting as she grapples with her newfound singledom under the critical eyes of her mother and mother-in-law, and the selfish attitudes of various suitors.

Perfectly capturing the tone of the 70s, and the reality faced by so many women when forced to re-assess their roles as wife and mother.
The British Library Women Writers series is a curated collection of novels by female authors who enjoyed broad, popular appeal in their day. In a century during which the role of women in society changed radically, their fictional heroines highlight women's experience of life inside and outside the home through the decades in these rich, insightful and evocative stories.

Book Details

Publisher: British Library
Publish Date: Feb 27th, 2024
Pages: 256
Language: English
Edition: undefined - undefined
Dimensions: 7.40in - 4.96in - 0.55in - 0.44lb
EAN: 9780712354929
Categories: • Feminist• Literary• Family Life - Marriage & Divorce

About the Author

Penelope Mortimer (1918-1999) published her first novel in 1947. She was married twice; first to the Reuters journalist Charles Dimont, and later to the barrister and author, John Mortimer. Her best-known novel, the semi-autobiographical The Pumpkin Eater, was published in 1962 and made into a successful film starring Anne Bancroft. Her book Daddy's Gone A-Hunting was reissued by McNally Editions in 2022.

Praise for this book

"A writer who can knock spots off most of her contemporaries. - The Guardian

"What I loved most about The Home is the tone of voice. Mortimer is drily funny and quite odd, and fans of Muriel Spark or Beryl Bainbridgewill find a lot to enjoy. Her descriptions of people are always slightly off-kilter and wonderful." --Stuck in a Book

"Achingly sad and beautifully written, 'The Home' examines the meaning of home in a context from the past, but which I am sure will resonate with women, even today." --Bag Full of Books

"Originally published in 1958, a full decade before abortion was legalized in the U.K., the book is as salient a study of the disparate views and persistent inequities around reproductive health care for present-day U.S. readers as it is illuminating of midcentury English attitudes and conditions. A wry dissection of domestic despair and affluent ennui and a topical introduction to Mortimer's body of literary work." - Kirkus (starred review) on Daddy's Gone A-Hunting

"Penelope Mortimer's 64-year-old novel is a powerful argument for letting women choose when and whether they become a parent . . . With Daddy's Gone a-Hunting, she steps lightly into a sparse and immensely tricky genre, the literature of parental regret.'" - Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic on Daddy's Gone A-Hunting

"A simmering portrait of suburban malaise, originally published in 1958 . . . Mortimer (1918-1999) avoids easy answers in her nuanced take on the life of a woman who is quietly compromised. This easily earns a place on the shelf of noteworthy early feminist literature." - Publishers Weekly on Daddy's Gone A-Hunting

"Better dialogue, more deftly characterized individuals or a prose style more precise and firm is not often encountered in modern fiction. Mrs. Mortimer is impressively expert." - Orville Prescott, New York Times

"Mortimer peels several layers of skin off the subjects of motherhood, marriage, and monogamy." - Nick Hornby, The Believer on The Pumpkin Eater