Old Lovegood Girls
Failed to add items
Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.
Add to basket failed.
Please try again later
Add to wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Remove from wishlist failed.
Please try again later
Adding to library failed
Please try again
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 30 days of Standard free
£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Old Lovegood Girls
Narrated by:
Rosemary Benson
Buy Now for £13.79
-
Narrated by:
-
Rosemary Benson
-
By:
-
Gail Godwin
"As always, wry, beadyeyed, acute." —Margaret Atwood, via Twitter
From the bestselling, award-winning author of Flora and Evensong comes the story of two remarkable women and the complex friendship between them that spans decades.
When the dean of Lovegood Junior College for Girls decides to pair Feron Hood with Merry Jellicoe as roommates in 1958, she has no way of knowing the far-reaching consequences of the match. Feron, who has narrowly escaped from a dark past, instantly takes to Merry and her composed personality. Surrounded by the traditions and four-story Doric columns of Lovegood, the girls—and their friendship—begin to thrive. But underneath their fierce friendship is a stronger, stranger bond, one comprised of secrets, rivalry, and influence—with neither of them able to predict that Merry is about to lose everything she grew up taking for granted, and that their time together will be cut short.
Ten years later, Feron and Merry haven’t spoken since college. Life has led them into vastly different worlds. But, as Feron says, once someone is inside your “reference aura,” she stays there forever. And when each woman finds herself in need of the other’s essence, that spark—that remarkable affinity, unbroken by time—between them is reignited, and their lives begin to shift as a result.
Luminous and masterfully crafted, Old Lovegood Girls is the story of a powerful friendship between talented writers, two college friends who have formed a bond that takes them through decades of a fast-changing world, finding and losing and finding again the one friendship that defines them.©2020 Gail Godwin (P)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
Critic reviews
An extraordinary novel about the nature of those rare friendships that fade for long periods of time only to rekindle in an instant when the conditions are right again.
In this powerful, moving, and perfectly crafted novel, Gail Godwin’s virtuoso dialogue and masterful handling of the passage of time illuminate the lifelong friendship of two women, college roommates who become writers.
Literary treasure Godwin’s shimmeringly alive new novel . . . [is] gorgeous, heartbreakingly true, and profound . . . To say it's a masterpiece is an understatement.
Godwin, a word-perfect novelist of exceptional psychological refinement . . . infuses this tale of intrepid women with a profound inquiry into the ethics of storytelling and how literature can chart a way through tragedies.
What is it that holds us together, through years and big changes? It can feel indescribable--unless someone like Gail Godwin gets her hands on it. An award-winning, powerhouse storyteller who has brought us so many smart, heartfelt novels like Grief Cottage and Flora, Godwin delivers a glimpse into the bond sustained by two women ever since they first became friends in college.
The publication of Old Lovegood Girls is a genuine literary event, worthy of celebration. This book marks 50 years of publishing since Godwin’s debut with The Perfectionists in 1970. . . . [Godwin] is confident in her powers, an old professional in complete control, in no hurry get the story told, taking the time needed for the reader to know and understand the characters and their complicated lives. . . . Old Lovegood Girls contains plenty of story, but is also a very self-consciously literary novel, exploring the infinite variations available to a master of the form.
Beautifully crafted and cerebral . . . This book is literary fiction from a master whose own remarkable literary life is evident in these pages. It is a book to be savored, pondered, and enjoyed.
Godwin’s style is always elegant and literary.
Godwin’s return to subjects of female friendship, intellectual development and the passing of time are likely to be welcome distractions during this time of social distancing and homebound activities.
There’s an old-fashioned plot. Godwin, in fact, packs in enough developments -- Vietnam casualties, the AIDS plague, dying children, dying husbands -- to pack four routine novels. . . . Old Lovegood Girls will appeal to anyone with a taste for women’s fiction.
Gail Godwin is a prolific author who writes of real life with grace and insight. Fans are sure to enjoy her newest.
A tenderly insightful, beautifully crafted, and heartbreakingly acute novel . . . Sublime.
Godwin is a splendid storyteller whose tales are richly layered. . . . [an] engrossing and accomplished novel . . . Old Lovegood Girls is a fine, old-fashioned women’s novel in the tradition Gail Godwin did so much to create.
Wonderful. Beautiful writing. Fab performance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.