Passing On (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Penelope Lively
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: The 1980’s
- Setting: Long Sydenham, a village in the Cotswolds, England
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Self-discovery, Memory, Mothers, Parents and children, Power, personal or social, Suicide, Nature, Alienation, Brothers and sisters, 1980’s, Libraries or librarians, England or English people, Oppression, Death or dying, Naturalists
- Locales: Cotswolds, England
Characters Discussed
Helen Glover, a part-time librarian in her early fifties. She recalls events of her life. Following several brief attempts to leave Long Sydenham in her twenties, Helen returned to live with her mother and brother in her mother’s house. Helen, an attractive woman, has been subjected to a lifetime of demeaning comments from her mother, Dorothy. She has never cultivated her beauty or attempted to change the disheveled condition of her home. Although she resents her mother’s manipulation, Helen lacks the willpower to assert her independence.
Dorothy...
[The entire page is 669 words long]
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