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‘I saw Michael touch her face softly and reach down and kiss part of her ankle that was not covered by the duvet. It was done with such affection, with such pleasure in her substance, and when she came into the kitchen, her dressing gown knotted and wearing a pair of his socks, she looked like a woman who knew that she was loved and desired, and I was glad for her, glad that my desiccated papery bed would never be hers.’
Sarah, stifled by the twin pressures of family and work, may just succumb to temptation; Kate, a romantic at heart, is tormented by the loss of love; Isobel, ever faithful to her husband, yet accepts - perhaps implicitly encourages – infidelity; Martha, whose glorious affair in her 50s is the defining moment of her life; Sheila, in an unconventional marriage, resigned to chastity, yet the most generous of spirit; and Judith, whose past demons need to be laid to rest before she can live life truthfully. A
compulsive and unusually moving novel of love and marriage: six
women, six different but interconnected relationships.
Kay Langdale's debut novel is, in the simplest of terms, an account of love and marriage. Avoiding entirely the clichés of romance or “chick-lit” genres, however, Langdale's approach in crafting Redemption is refreshingly, compellingly alternative. Six women—wives, daughters, a grandmother still a virgin, an unwed mother of sixteen, an aging mistress—inextricably but unknowingly bound to one another, are compelled by coinciding circumstances to determine and face the truths of their married lives. Langdale winds her narrative between and within the lives of Kate, Isobel, Martha, Sheila, and Judith. With each new perspective comes a fuller understanding of characters at once varied and connected, of experience unusual yet utterly believable, and an ultimate collected realization of what it means for each woman to be, and to have, a marriage partner. Langdale's work derives its greatest strength from the confluence of an elegant, adept use of language and a singularly insightful evocation of the mature female psyche. Spread as it is between six women, who stand united as much by their flawed and honest humanity as by the workings of Langdale's plot, that insight lends the novel a resonant validity. ..The work’s breadth of understanding and accrued wisdom - resulting from an intent focus upon female honesty - proves the strength of a sustained bond to redeem misuse or abuse of marriage vows, and even transform that bond to the greater empowerment of each woman's individuality. Her Circle.
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
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