Alison Fell

"The concept of motherhood emerges strongly in the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Violette Leduc and Annie Ernaux, whose work is examined here in the light of current debates about women's reproductive function and the longstanding glorification of the mere au foyer in France, driven by fear of a falling population." "In this interdisciplinary study of twentieth-century French women's writing, Fell uncovers tensions at the heart of the literary critique. She shows these authors challenging the patriarchal view of motherhood as the sole justification for a woman's existence while at the same time confronting the conflict inherent in their relationship with their own mothers. A survey of theoretical and historical material demonstrates vividly that the changing concept of motherhood remains a problematic and highly contentious issue for French feminists, whether writing in 1940 or 1999."--BOOK JACKET.

Broom is in her fifties. She is spending Christmas in the Alps, where some years before she had fallen in love with Al, a climber who was subsequently involved in an accident abroad. Lockhart, with whom Broom once had an affair, is returning to the family estate on a remote Scottish island, with painful family news for his autocratic father. As Broom looks back on her life and past lovers, she becomes drawn to Micky Flint, a young executive who is her polar opposite, and an intimacy develops that will wrench Broom out of the past and into her new life.