Title: The gentle powers
First published: 1946
Description: Set in wartime London, Westwood tells the story of Margaret Steggles, a plain bookish girl whose mother has told her that she is not the type that attracts men. Her schoolfriend Hilda has a sunny temperament and keeps her service boys 'ever so cheery'. When Margaret finds a ration book on Hampstead Heath the pompous writer Gerard Challis enters both their lives. Margaret slavishly adores Challis and his artistic circle; Challis idolises Hilda for her hair and her eyes and Hilda finds Gerard's romantic overtures a bit of a bind. This is a delightfully comic and wistful tale of love and longing.
Subjects: Female friendship, English Dramatists, Fiction, Fiction, general, Friendship, fiction
Places: London
Time periods: World War II
LC classification: PZ3.G3527 Ge, PR6013.I24 Ge