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Born in 1865, Mary Olivier is the youngest of four children. Mamma dominates this Victorian household, idolising the boys, rejecting the independent love of her only daughter: the archetype of all women who control by weakness and suffering. Mary adores her mother- and she hates her. Ferociously intelligent, she vacillates between a passionate quest for her own artistic and sexual identity.

This is one of the first novels ever written about a mother and daughter relationship, and the eternal conflict engendered by the deepest of ties. But it is a celebration too: for though Mary sacrifices her life- and her lover- to the demands of duty, she emerges victorious, finding in the discovery of her intellectual and feminine self an inner freedom, a perfect happiness.



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A multi-levelled, absorbing, fiercely passionate story from a wonderfully gifted writer. * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *

Mary Oliver A Life Virago Modern Classics

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    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Sat 20 Jun 2026.

    A Paperback by May Sinclair, Jean Radford

    15 in stock

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      Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
      Publication Date: 4/14/1980 12:00:00 AM
      ISBN13: 9780860681052, 978-0860681052
      ISBN10: 086068105X
      Also in:
      Historical Fiction

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Born in 1865, Mary Olivier is the youngest of four children. Mamma dominates this Victorian household, idolising the boys, rejecting the independent love of her only daughter: the archetype of all women who control by weakness and suffering. Mary adores her mother- and she hates her. Ferociously intelligent, she vacillates between a passionate quest for her own artistic and sexual identity.

      This is one of the first novels ever written about a mother and daughter relationship, and the eternal conflict engendered by the deepest of ties. But it is a celebration too: for though Mary sacrifices her life- and her lover- to the demands of duty, she emerges victorious, finding in the discovery of her intellectual and feminine self an inner freedom, a perfect happiness.



      Trade Review
      A multi-levelled, absorbing, fiercely passionate story from a wonderfully gifted writer. * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *

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