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Book Review of Bittersweet: A Novel

Bittersweet: A Novel
reviewed on + 1438 more book reviews


Having long enjoyed this author's work, I found this story about a double set of identical twins born to the same father most interesting. Alike in apperance, their personalities, goals and aspirations were very different.

Taking place in Australia during the great depression, the story centers on women who live in Corunda, a fictional city. They have different mothers but the same father, Rev. Thomas Latimer, a rector of the Church of England. So meet Edda and Grace, and Tufts and Kitty and follow their lives from training and work as nurses to careers and marriage. Three marry but two become single again. Grace's husband, losing his job and becoming depressed, commits suicide while Kitty abandons her jealous and possessive husband to move in with a man who understands her.

The author contrasts cultural beliefs of Australians and the English and traditional beliefs with changing mores. Physical Australia, the author's first home, serves as background for the very real characters as their lives develop. Politics, romance, career goals and development emphasize the changing roles of women. Note, too, that the author set up Sydney's department of neurophysiology at Royal North Shore Hospital and was a Yale Medical School researcher for ten years. I urge readers to discover this fine. It's a good one.