Loraine Despres

This is a time I'd say "don't judge a book by its cover" applies. The cover is cute but the content is more serious.

It's the year 1920 and Belle is a feminist. She grew up poor, got married at 16 and has just recently been widowed in her early 30's.
Her life is a made up of a series of thoughts about what she "should" do.
Her mother-in-law has spent half her life trying to teach Belle how a lady should act.

Belle wants to be good, but she wants to be happy too.

When her husband passes away, she feels responsible (she doesn't kill him, she just feels guilty about his death).
After mourning, she starts to come alive again.

She fights for the right to vote. She pursues s new relationship. She encourages her daughter to get an education and she even takes on prejudice and hatred in her small town.

… (mehr)

Eh. A southern housewife has a midlife crisis and ponders a dalliance with her old high-school sweetheart. There are some nice little twists that make for a decent read, but nothing terribly special.

One thing that struck me as unusual: can anybody think of another book where the protagonist is an adult, but the main antagonist is a child? (Other than Dennis the Menace, of course... and he's not really mean-spirited enough to be a true villain). I had trouble thinking of another unsympathetic child character in a book that doesn't also have a protagonist of similar age.… (mehr)