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Vera and Mr. George have made a new life together but Vera's thoughts return again and again to loves and lovers, meetings and partings - the voices that echo in the mind like music. In The Georges' WifeElizabeth Jolley returns to the themes of discord and harmony between brothers and sister, husbands and wives, friends and lovers. Her spare and sensitive prose is illuminated with compassion and understanding for the intricacies of human relationships.Tags
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This is the last book in the Vera Wright trilogy. Vera has had a second daughter, Rachel, and this time the father is Mr. George, a professor. Once again, Vera has to keep the identity of the baby's father a secret because their relationship is clandestine. Although, it is not with a married man this time. Vera has gotten herself romantically entangled with someone she is keeping house for. His spinster sister would not approve of their relationship (although there are times when Vera is convinced the sister already knows). As with the other Vera Wright books, Miss Wright is lonely and alone. Sad line: "To be his and not just on the edge of him and not just now and then" (p 418) suggests that she would like to have an open and honest show more relationship with Rachel's father. She goes on to say, "I am accustomed to the idea of being alone, but her words cause an extra emptiness, that of being removed from belonging to a family" (p 426). How sad is that? As with the other Wright books in the series, The Georges' Wife jumps around. In one chapter Vera's children are small enough to show off to Miss Georges's guests and the next they have grown up to both become surgeons. Spoiler alert: all Vera' life she has been an outsider and incredibly lonely. Even at the very end of the trilogy she has not found true companionship. Mr. George, suffering from Alzheimer's, doesn't recognize the word 'couple' to describe his relationship with Vera. show less
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The first two novels of this trilogy by the late Australian writer Jolley were issued in the U.S. in the 1980s, but the third was not available until now. Largely autobiographical, the novels provide a haunting portrait of a woman who came of age during WWII in England, forging her identity in courageous circumstances. My Father’s Moon traces Vera’s childhood, her experiences as a nurse in show more wartime London and her seduction and pregnancy by a womanizing physician. In Cabin Fever, Vera, poor and desperate, is exploited as a teacher at a dreadful boarding school. The Georges, the title characters in the third novel, are an elderly brother and sister in Glasgow who take in Vera as a maid. Vera has another daughter out of wedlock with Mr. George, with whom she moves to Australia in the 1950s. The books do not accrue to a conventional narrative, however. These facts, teased out from the repetition of seminal memories, like the shards of a kaleidoscope, are merely the bones of a lyrically written, imaginatively observed and emotionally compelling work. show less
added by KayCliff
Author Information
32+ Works 2,126 Members
Elizabeth Jolley was born Monica Elizabeth Knight in Birmingham, England on June 4, 1923. She was educated privately until age 11, when she was sent to Sibford School, a Quaker boarding school. At 17 she began training as nurse in London and was exposed firsthand to the horrors of World War II. She emigrated to Australia in 1959 with her husband show more and their three children. Before becoming a full-time author, she had numerous jobs including nursing, housecleaning, and farming. She published her first book of short stories, Five Acre Virgin and Other Stories, in 1976, and her first novel, Palomino, in 1980. Her other works included The Newspaper of Claremont Street, Mr. Scobie's Riddle, The Well, My Father's Moon, Miss Peabody's Inheritance, Foxybaby, and The Sugar Mother. She died on February 13, 2007 at the age of 83. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Series
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1993
- People/Characters
- Vera Wright; Helena Wright; Oliver George; Eleanor George
- Important places
- Australia; Glasgow, Scotland, UK
- First words
- "Tell me about yourself, Migrant", the rice-farmer widow says to me.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 92
- Popularity
- 347,953
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
