Product Description

Jane is unmarried and pregnant when she is turned out by her father. She lights on a room at the top of a squalid house. She cares nothing for it, or her neighbours. But it is these neighbours that draw her back into life - Toby, a Jewish writer, John, a jazz player, and even her landlady.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #350283 in Books
• Published on: 1971-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Customer Reviews

One of the most moving books I've ever read.
I first read this book when I was 14 (I'm now 40) and I can still remember the ending and how it moved me.

It was the first 'adult' book I'd read and it's stayed with me over the years.

A truly great read.

A real feel-good page turner
I read this book several years ago and found it captivating. It sounds a boring read when you explain to people it's about a girl expecting a baby who has to leave home and moves to grotty lodgings and her relationships with other lodgers and the landlady. It's portrayal of the characters however and how they relate to each other is so authentic and moving, I couldn't put it down. Its very easy to read but not trivial or cliche'd in any way. To my utter delight I realised it was the first of a trilogy, which were equally as good but hard to track down-I found the other 2 on a 2nd hand stall.

An absolutely fabulous read
I borrowed this book from a friend whose Mum had recommended it to her. Because of this I was sceptical at first but I thought what have I got to lose?

It turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read. Deeply touching and very evocotive it was so easy to become wrapped up in it that I read it cover to cover in a few days. I became so involved with the characters that I couldn't put it down and everything the characters go through, you feel as though you are there with them, every step of the way.

It was the first of a really amazing trilogy - the second of which, The Backward Shadow, I enjoyed the most. If you intend to read more than one of them please read them in order because the story unfolds so much better that way. I would encourage anyone to read this trilogy as it is a story which will stay with me for a long time to come.