Yesterday's Houses

by Mavis Cheek (Author), Mavis Cheek (Author), Mavis Cheek (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.21

  When sixteen-year-old Marianne Flowers is invited to a party in a genteel house she has no idea that the house - and what she experiences there - including the stately bathroom - will change her life. Not to mention the boy who introduces her to red wine, sophisticated conversation and an apparently liberated future. But marriage to Charles turns out to be far from liberating and soon Marianne finds herself living in a basement flat, with a cramped, ignoble bathroom, and a way of life that is very far from her hopes, romantic or otherwise. Life, it seems, is going on elsewhere. But Charles' mother starts feeding her with books - classics, feminist essays, fine literature - and soon Marianne realises that there is a whole, bright world unfolding before her. But how will this new, independently minded Marianne find her place in this brand new world?

• Used

  Paperback
  2006

  $3.21

  A classic Cheek comedy of manners that will delight her many fans. When Marianne Flowers is invited to a party by a stranger, she has no idea that it is here that she will set eyes on the love of her life: a beautiful bathroom. She also meets Charles and experiences her first romance. Her dreams of escape from her childhood to a home of her own seem to be realised when he proposes. But marriage to Charles turns out to be far from liberating and soon Marianne is back in rented accommodation with a cramped bathroom and a sense that life is going on elsewhere. Charles's mother Jean has started feeding her with books - classics, feminist tracts - and soon Marianne realises that there is a whole world inside her mind. But how will this new independently minded Marianne fit in with a man's idea of what a woman should be? Mavis Cheek's thirteenth novel shows her at the height of her powers in this poignant, funny account of a woman whose journey to freedom, independence and great plumbing will delight fans of her previous work.