The world created here is like a three-dimensional slice taken out of time and delivered in book form. The characters are realistic and well-drawn. I really enjoyed it and heartily recommend this book. For a generation or so, women have grown up with unparalleled opportunities to choose a career, either in addition to or as an alternative to marriage and family. Marriage and family without work seems to be a less available option.
Many women work and raise children without any partner.
The main character in this book, however, despite her New York provenance, seems oblivious to these concerns of modern women. Florence Collins has drifted along through life, reaching her early thirties with the thought that the only way for her to ever be successful would be through marriage to someone who could support her shopping habits. The book is an excellent characterization of a person with little to no character. It is a bleak story of what happens as Florence's circumstances and poor decisions force her to face reality. It is a picture of what might have happened to many women if they had allowed themselves to be guided solely by their expectations of being married.