The Flight of the Maidens by Jane Gardam


Some years ago I read a couple of novels by Jane Gardam, Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hat, and enjoyed them a great deal, but then somehow forgot about her. Recently someone online somewhere (I like the Internet) mentioned a novel by her called The Flight of the Maidens that sounded good. One reason it sounded appealing is that it seemed like it would be entirely different from László Krasznahorkai's Seiobo There Below. Don't get me wrong. I am in awe of that novel, certainly the best thing I've read this year and definitely on my short list of all time greats. I felt though, that after the overwhelming experience of reading it, I could use a change. In The Maidens, the story of three girls coming of age in England in the aftermath of World War II, we are reminded of the charms of novels that appeal in quieter ways.

This is not to say that it is light reading. The heavy shadow of World War II still darkens these young girls' lives, most clearly is that one of them is Jewish and escaped Germany with the Kindertransport of 1939. She is placed with a Quaker couple in the provincial Yorkshire town in which the girls live and from which, thanks to opportunities that open up for them to go to university, they ultimately take flight.

I'm happy to note that there are several more Gardam novels waiting for me, not least the third volume in what I didn't know was a trilogy when I read the first two books (see above) in it.

Comments

  1. JulianNovember 12, 2025 at 4:17 AM

    As always, thanks for your book notice. If I don't get to Seiobo, I might get to this.

    ReplyDelete

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