Everything Will Be All RightEverything Will Be All Right
a Novel
Title rated 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 3 ratings(3 ratings)
Book, 2003
Current format, Book, 2003, 1st ed, Available .Book, 2003
Current format, Book, 2003, 1st ed, Available . Offered in 0 more formatsAfter growing up in a household with no male family members, Joyce works to protect her nuclear family and wonders why her own daughter rejects domestic life.
Moving with her widowed mother into the home of her aunt, whose husband sleeps elsewhere at night, thirteen-year-old Joyce experiences the poignancy of life without male family members, and when she subsequently marries and works to protect her nuclear family, she wonders at her own daughter's rejection of domestic life. 35,000 first printing.
When Joyce Stevenson is thirteen, her family moves to the south of England to live with their aunt Vera. Her mother, Lil, is a widow; Vera has a husband who keeps his suits in the wardrobe but spends evenings at another house nearby. The two sisters couldn't be more different - Vera, a teacher, has unquestioning belief in the powers of education and reason; she is exasperated by Lil's faith in spiritualist seances. Yet they work together to form a tight-knit family.
Joyce watches them and sees that something is missing in their lives: men. She doesn't want to end up like Aunt Vera, buttoned awkwardly into unflattering clothes, rejected by her husband. Joyce discovers the art room at school: she falls in love with the sensuousness of lemons, the French Impressionists, and, eventually, one of her teachers at the art college. In spite of the temptations of the sixties, she is determined to make marriage and motherhood a success. When Joyce's daughter, Zoe, grows up and has a baby of her own, however, Zoe proves impatient with domestic life, and chooses a very different path.
Spanning five decades of extraordinary change in women's lives, Everything Will Be All Right explores the complicated relationships in one family. The young ones of each generation are sure they can correct the mistakes of their parents; the truth, of course, is more opaque.
The profoundly different choices of a mother and her daughter infuse this rich, expansive novel with both intimate detail and wide resonance
When Joyce Stevenson is thirteen, her family moves to the south of England to live with their aunt Vera. Joyce's mother, Lil, is a widow; Vera has a husband who keeps his suits in the wardrobe but spends evenings at another house nearby. While the two sisters couldn't be more different-Vera, a teacher, has unquestioning belief in the powers of education and reason; Lil puts her faith in séances-they work together to form a tight-knit family.
Joyce sees that there is something missing in their lives: men. She doesn't want to end up like her aunt Vera, rejected by her husband. Joyce discovers art at school: she falls in love with the Impressionists and, eventually, with one of her teachers. In spite of the temptations of the sixties, she is determined to make her marriage and motherhood a success. When Joyce's daughter, Zoe, grows up and has a baby of her own, however, she proves to be impatient with domestic life and chooses a dramatically different path.
Spanning five decades of extraordinary changes in women's lives, Everything Will Be All Right explores the complicated relationships of a family. The young ones of each generation are sure that they can correct the mistakes of their parents; the truth, of course, is more opaque. Intricate and insightful, Everything Will Be All Right firmly establishes Tessa Hadley among the great contemporary observers of the human mind and heart.
Moving with her widowed mother into the home of her aunt, whose husband sleeps elsewhere at night, thirteen-year-old Joyce experiences the poignancy of life without male family members, and when she subsequently marries and works to protect her nuclear family, she wonders at her own daughter's rejection of domestic life. 35,000 first printing.
When Joyce Stevenson is thirteen, her family moves to the south of England to live with their aunt Vera. Her mother, Lil, is a widow; Vera has a husband who keeps his suits in the wardrobe but spends evenings at another house nearby. The two sisters couldn't be more different - Vera, a teacher, has unquestioning belief in the powers of education and reason; she is exasperated by Lil's faith in spiritualist seances. Yet they work together to form a tight-knit family.
Joyce watches them and sees that something is missing in their lives: men. She doesn't want to end up like Aunt Vera, buttoned awkwardly into unflattering clothes, rejected by her husband. Joyce discovers the art room at school: she falls in love with the sensuousness of lemons, the French Impressionists, and, eventually, one of her teachers at the art college. In spite of the temptations of the sixties, she is determined to make marriage and motherhood a success. When Joyce's daughter, Zoe, grows up and has a baby of her own, however, Zoe proves impatient with domestic life, and chooses a very different path.
Spanning five decades of extraordinary change in women's lives, Everything Will Be All Right explores the complicated relationships in one family. The young ones of each generation are sure they can correct the mistakes of their parents; the truth, of course, is more opaque.
The profoundly different choices of a mother and her daughter infuse this rich, expansive novel with both intimate detail and wide resonance
When Joyce Stevenson is thirteen, her family moves to the south of England to live with their aunt Vera. Joyce's mother, Lil, is a widow; Vera has a husband who keeps his suits in the wardrobe but spends evenings at another house nearby. While the two sisters couldn't be more different-Vera, a teacher, has unquestioning belief in the powers of education and reason; Lil puts her faith in séances-they work together to form a tight-knit family.
Joyce sees that there is something missing in their lives: men. She doesn't want to end up like her aunt Vera, rejected by her husband. Joyce discovers art at school: she falls in love with the Impressionists and, eventually, with one of her teachers. In spite of the temptations of the sixties, she is determined to make her marriage and motherhood a success. When Joyce's daughter, Zoe, grows up and has a baby of her own, however, she proves to be impatient with domestic life and chooses a dramatically different path.
Spanning five decades of extraordinary changes in women's lives, Everything Will Be All Right explores the complicated relationships of a family. The young ones of each generation are sure that they can correct the mistakes of their parents; the truth, of course, is more opaque. Intricate and insightful, Everything Will Be All Right firmly establishes Tessa Hadley among the great contemporary observers of the human mind and heart.
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