"Unashamedly confronting the themes of adultery, sex without love and the excessive emphasis in 19th century America on woman's role as wife and mother."

"Now recognised as one of the classics of 19th century literature, The Awakening was a scandal of its time, and had to wait until the 1970s to be rediscovered. It is the deeply moving story of Edna Pontellier, a young woman living in New Orleans. She is fond of her husband, proud of her sons, but she cannot accept that for women it is 'a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals'. Her fight is a contemporary one. It is for spiritual and sensual freedom, and for self-determination."

Picked this one up at a book sale, as it was a classic I recognised but had never read.

It's an interesting book from a historical as well as feminist viewpoint. I found it fascinating that a book which destroyed the author's career and much of her personal life and status when published in 1899, seems so innocuous now. And that within a mere 70 years of her writing the novel, women's lib was in full swing and the very things she was writing about had become a reality for so many.

The story is understated and restrained, enjoyably easy to read but thought provoking to the end.

RELEASE NOTES:

At the meetup

Picked up at the Wgtn meet up.