A Woman's Age

A Woman's Age

(1979) Pan

‘An intelligent delight. Mrs. Billington writes with the wit of an Evelyn Waugh and the leisure of an Arnold Bennett.’ The New York Times

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It was a huge change of direction for me when I wrote this long family saga (589 pages in small print paperback). Before it, I had mostly written short intense dramas, influenced in their form by my husband’s work as a film director. I decided to trace the change in a woman’s position in British society from the beginning of the twentieth century to the then present date – late 1970s. I developed my structure by using three generations of women who in various ways were involved in most of the big events of the century. The blurb describes it like this:

‘Stepping into the world of country houses and nannies at the turn of the century, we follow the life of Violet Hesketh – from childhood, through two world wars, the roaring twenties, the depression, through years of social and political upheaval, to the fulfilment of her ambitions as a leading public figure and politician in the 1970s. As the lives of Violet, her daughter, her friends and lovers, interweave over 70 years, we see reflected in their ambitions and desires, their hopes and fears, the changing face of a nation.’ (See full description)