Tide inside, other peoples’s heads
By the time Anna and Wanda were alone in the kitchen, Anna lost her nerve. Wanda probably wouldn’t understand either. She would say it was a self-indulgence, a superficial kind of work. Wanda wrote about urgent issues — povery and education and racial discrimination — what would she think of her friend becoming a psychologist puttering inside other people’s heads?
Wanda sprinkled Tide over the plates and ran hot water.
ex Valerie Miner. All Good Women (Crossing Press, 1987) : 458
google books preview (of 2014 reprint) : link
1987 edition borrowable at archive.org : link
aside — wonderful (1940s period style) cover illustration by Gwyneth Jones
first published in the UK by Methuen;
Paladin paperback (1988) borrowable at archive.org : 458 : link
cover illustration by David Dowland
summary (from google “About this book”) —
In 1938, while tensions in Europe are reaching a boiling point, four young women with big ambitions enter secretarial school in San Francisco. Motivated to attain the financial stability that eluded their parents, they go to battle for their futures. Moira, of Scottish descent, dreams of being an actress. Ann yearns for the education her Jewish immigrant parents provided for her brother, but not for her. Japanese American Wanda experiences firsthand the racial injustices running rampant in the United States. And Teddy, who left the Dust Bowl for sunny California, comes to startling realizations about herself as the war progresses. These women will be both buoyed and challenged by their dreams, experiencing love, loss, and everything in between. Against the backdrop of a nation gripped by fear and paranoia, Miner eloquently captures the spirit of wartime on the home front.
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author’s website : link
wikipedia : link
17 December 2024