The Longings Of Women by Marge Piercy

An engrossing novel about three women whose lives converge in times of crisis for each of them. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly Piercy's ( Gone to Soldiers ) latest novel is one of her best: like all her work, it's a well-crafted and compelling narrative, and it also deftly illuminates a timely theme. In unpretentious but quietly forceful prose, she portrays three memorable women from different backgrounds whose lives plausibly and poignantly intersect. The three heroines are Leila, a middle-aged Boston college professor and writer; her long-suffering and secretly homeless 60-ish housekeeper Mary; and Becky, an ambitious young wife accused of murdering her husband and who is the subject of Leila's new book. All three face problems typical of women ill-used by men and by society: trying to fill the role of the good wife; financial dependency; the low regard accorded older women; and the difficulties of morganatic marriages. Especially wrenching is Piercy's limning of the modest middle-class aspirations of the average woman and the precariousness of a sense of self-worth that is dependent on others. Moving back and forth among her protagonists, Piercy maintains a suspenseful narrative drive which leads to a rending climax. If the ending is a bit implausible, her readers won't hold it against Piercy; in this book she airs subjects of importance not only to women but to the society that encompasses them. 75,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternate; author tour. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the hardcover edition. From Library Journal Piercy adds another impressive novel to her already impressive list (e.g., Mars and Her Children , LJ 2/15/92). This time she tackles the issue of women on their own through homelessness, divorce, and even murder. Leila is a middle-aged writer/professor whose husband continually cheats on her. Becky is in jail for conspiring to have her teenage lover kill her husband. And Mary, who finds herself homeless after her divorce, manages to cope by working as a cleaning lady and then living in her employers' homes when she knows they are away. Each woman has ventured outside the accepted safe circle of what a woman's life is supposed to be so that she can become her own person, no matter how perverse or infamous that might make her. Each woman's story could be a novel on its own. In particular, Piercy's portrait of homelessness is poignant and perceptive. This book deserves bestsellerdom. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/1/93. - Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Bay Area Cooperative Lib. System, Cal. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the hardcover edition. From the Inside Flap POWERFUL...EXTRAORDINARY...MOVING. --San Francisco Chronicle Her marriage over, her life unraveling, writer Leila Landsman turns to work, and finds herself drawn to the sensational story of Becky Burgess, a young woman accused of killing her husband with the help of her teenage lover. Becky thought she'd escaped the grim poverty of her childhood when she married up, but her husband was soon planning to trade her in for a newer model. And that's just what happened to Mary Burke, whose middle class life ended with her divorce. Now Leila's housecleaner, Mary has a secret: she is homeless. They are three very different women who share the same longings: to be seen for who they are, to be valued and loved, but most of all, to have a physical and emotional home that can't be taken away.... --This text refers to the hardcover edition. From Booklist Piercy is an involving and satisfyingly concrete writer, whether she's writing about a post-nuclear holocaust future in He, She and It or this novel's trio of tough-minded women. Leila is the linchpin. A tall, full-bodied professor and author who writes about grave topics such as incest or how women cope with imprisonment, she is the major breadwinner in her household. Husband Nick is in theater. He usually stages plays close to home in the Boston-Cambridge area but periodically goes on the road and, just as often, acquires a young, svelte actress to keep him company. Leila, loving and faithful to a fault, has had enough. Just as she realizes that her cat is far better company than her selfish mate, her agent offers her a lucrative deal on a book about a sensational murder trial. Enter Becky Souza Burgess who is accused of enlisting her teenage lover's help in beating her husband to death. Becky grew up very poor and very determined to improve her lot in life. The first in her large family to make it to college, her dream is to be a TV anchorwoman, but instead, her broadcast debut is as a murder suspect. The third woman in this compelling, well-constructed novel is Mary, a grandmother who, after a brutal divorce late in life, landed on the streets. She works as a cleaning woman and can still pass as middle class but is, in fact, homeless. Mary has developed extraordinary strategies for staying alive, but clearly, her position is precarious. As Piercy draws us into the alarming predicaments of each of these women, she traces the progress of their struggles to earn respect and love with unerring accuracy and discernment. Magnetic from start to finish. Donna Seaman --This text refers to the hardcover edition. From Kirkus Reviews From the veteran Piercy (He, She, and It, 1991, etc.): an old- fashioned heartwarmer with a feminist agenda and a leavening of schmaltz that'll get the hankies out for a sentimental cry along the way. Set in Boston and environs, the story begins in late October as three disparate women whose longings for the ordinary (decent homes, faithful husbands, better lives) have been thwarted by men each confront an approaching crisis. Leila Landsman, who writes about abused women, fears that her long marriage to theater director Nick is again in trouble; Mary Burke, a former suburban matron turned homeless housecleaner, worries about surviving the winter; and Becky Burgess, daughter of a poor fisherman, is in prison awaiting trial for the murder of her husband. In turns, the women recall their pasts as they deal with the present. Leila, realizing that philandering Nick will never change, prepares for divorce. She has also agreed to write a book about Becky's upcoming trial--which leads us to Becky and nice young Sam, her reluctant partner in crime. Sam's uncle Zak, initially hostile to Leila, soon becomes her lover; he is also a veterinarian, useful for kind Leila's coterie of stray cats. Ambitious Becky, who worked and schemed to improve her life, married Terry because he seemed to have everything she wanted--until he lost his job and found another woman. A fighter to the end, though found guilty, she plans her escape. And Mary, who cleans Leila's house and is the least convincing of the trio, remembers how her life was destroyed when her husband left her; she's injured in a fire, then is saved by Leila, who sends her to live with sister Debbie in sunny California. Leila, though now living alone, rejoices: at last I am my own woman.'' Despite some unnecessary speechifying on the big issues: a gripping and affecting story, dominated by Becky, a real original. (First printing of 75,000) -- Copyright 1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.