Helen van Slyke Knihy

Una crociera nei mari del Sud diventa per la trentottenne Mary l'occasione per una riflessione sulla propria vita. Accanto a lei c'è la giovane e adorata nipote Jayne che, con la sua disinibita franchezza, la costringe ad affrontare nuove emozioni, compresa l'attrazione per un compagno di viaggio. Divisa fra l'affetto per il marito, che però non rispetta più, e il sentimento che sta nascendo, Mary lotta con la sua coscienza...

America was struggling through the Depression when Pauline Thresher, the beautiful wife of a powerful banker, left her husband of twenty-five years because she could no longer bear his flagrant infidelity. — Sara Thresher, her wise and compassionate mother-in-law, understood too well that wealth and position could not compensate for marriage to a cold, domineering man. She chose to go with Pauline, even though it meant a cruel and perhaps irrvocable estrangement from her own son. But Lindsay, Pauline's lovely, willful daughter, stood on the threshold of a different world-a world which would deman all her resilience and determination if she was to survive as her own woman.