Someone at a Distance (Persephone Classics)

Product Information

Avery’s demanding mother lives nearby and, bored and resentful, she decides to invite a young Frenchwoman to stay. They are sometimes distant because they want to, deep down inside, but don’t know how (code for: terrified.

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime, Someone at a Distance BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime, Someone at a Distance

There is a quiet undercurrent of Catholicism in this novel, sometimes it is more overt, sometimes it is just in the morals and values being defended. They have two children, Anne, a pretty, exuberant teenager, and Hugh, calm and steady, who is doing his military service. As the person seeking distance, she says, you must look out for your emotional health: "You limit the time; you limit the conversations. You see Avery’s sense of freedom as he takes his family and Ellen for granted, you see him carelessly play the victim after his infidelity is discovered, and you feel outraged at him.

This article is for you if you always find yourself wondering why would someone distance themselves from you, and you’re sick of not knowing why people avoid you (even though you’re a nice person).

Someone at a Distance - Dorothy Whipple 9780953478026: Someone at a Distance - Dorothy Whipple

And if someone has a pattern of being ashamed, it probably started very young, and was perpetrated by their parents, “friends”, caregivers, teachers, and the environment they grew up in. Born in 1893, DOROTHY WHIPPLE (nee Stirrup) had an intensely happy childhood in Blackburn as part of the large family of a local architect.

I have never read Dorothy Whipple before, although I have come across her name many times; especially on the podcast, “Tea or Books? You just need to respect that that is true with some people, and be willing to accept that sexual variety is what they need to experience (or think they need to experience). If a book long out of print is brought back out of obscurity by this publishing house it has to be good.

Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple | Goodreads Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple | Goodreads

We come to realize that there are unexplored and silent barriers that we erect in our personalities and relationships.Also available as a Persephone Classic, a Persephone e-book and a Persephone Audiobook read by Susan Wooldridge. Apparently a 'fairly ordinary tale about the destruction of a happy marriage,' Nina Bawden wrote in her Preface, yet 'it makes compulsive reading' in its description of an 'ordinary' family, husband commuting up to town, wife at home ('Ellen was that unfashionable creature, a happy housewife').

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, End of Transmission BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, End of Transmission

Beautifully read by Susan Wooldridge whose excellent French pronunciation and singing voice were much appreciated. This guide includes presents that are thoughtful, practical and show how much you’re here to support them. Louise is a fine piece of work, a girl smarting from an affair to a man in a higher social class in her hometown, who is hellbent on exacting her revenge–success. Louise, in an era where nothing lay for women other than the promise of ‘blissful domesticity’, is an ambitious young woman who wants more and demands more from her life – yet, the only way she finds to do that is by wrecking people’s lives and breaking her parents’ hearts. Not having read this…” All I can say is that I am eagerly looking forward to reading more of Dorothy Whipple.I haven't been this compelled to find out what was going to happen in a fictional story for a very long time. There are funny parts, but we (readers) aren’t fooled easily — there are some painful issues as well. So, if you don’t accept that this is the truth for some people, you cannot help anyone nor influence anyone to see differently.