Freya
A Novel
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“[A] double bildungsroman” of two British women “set against a background of political and cultural upheavals” in the direct aftermath of WWII (The New Yorker).
It begins on May 8, 1945. The streets of London are alive with VE-Day celebrations. In the crowd, twenty-year-old Freya Wyley meets eighteen-year-old Nancy Holdaway. Freya’s acerbic wit and free-wheeling politics complement Nancy’s gentle, cautious nature, and what begins on that eventful day in history is the story of a transformative friendship that spans two decades.
As Freya chooses journalism and Nancy realizes her ambitions as a novelist, their friendship takes on the nuances of sexual, emotional, and professional rivalries. Beneath the relentless thrum of changing times are the eternal battles fought by women in pursuit of independence and the search for love. Stretching from the war haunted halls of Oxford and Nuremburg to the cultural shifts of the early 1960s, Freya brings to life two extraordinary women facing down an era of political and personal tumult.
“With this three-dimensional portrait of his headstrong heroine, whose hard-gloss shell conceals a hard-fought vulnerability, Quinn achieves a distinct and unusual creation.” —The New York Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The fantastic fourth novel (after Curtain Call) from former Independent film critic Quinn is a testament to women who fought for what they wanted in a time of little personal and professional autonomy. Fresh out of military service, Freya Wyley meets affable Nancy Holdaway during VE Day celebrations on the streets of London. Freya and Nancy, both aspiring writers, form an immediate bond and later attend Oxford, where their friendship is tested by professional and romantic entanglements. The women reunite during the social revolution of 1960s London. Their bohemian lifestyle of parties, sexual exploration, and drug experimentation is juxtaposed with their fight to be taken seriously in a world dominated by men. While Nancy struggles to get a novel published, Freya breaks news and gender barriers as an outspoken journalist who exposes discrimination against homosexuals (as she grapples with her own sexuality). Clever dialogue (Freya, speaking of the wife of an overweight man she disliked: "Let us call her the lesser of two ovals") wonderfully captures the personalities, strengths, and weaknesses of major and minor characters alike. Fans of Tom Wolfe and Patricia Highsmith will embrace Quinn's swashbuckling Freya.
