Set in 1937, The Friendly Young Ladies is a romantic comedy of off-Bloomsbury bohemia. Sheltered, naïve, and just eighteen, Elsie leaves the stifling environment of her parents' home in Cornwall to seek out her sister, Leo, who had run away nine years earlier. She finds Leo sharing a houseboat, and a bed, with the beautiful, fair-haired Helen. While Elsie's arrival seems innocent enough, it is the first of a series of events that will turn Helen and Leo's contented life inside out. Soon a randy young doctor is chasing after all three women at once, a neighborly friendship begins to show an erotic tinge, and long-quiet ghosts from Leo's past begin to surface. Before long, no one is sure just who feels what for whom.
Mary Renault wrote this delightfully provocative novel in the early 1940s, creating characters that are lighthearted, charming, and free-spirited partly in answer to the despair characteristic of Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness or Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour. The result is a witty and stylish story that offers exceptional insight into the world of upcoming writers and artists of in 1930s London, chronicling their rejection of society's established sexual mores and their heroic pursuits of art and life.
Mary Renault wrote this delightfully provocative novel in the early 1940s, creating characters that are lighthearted, charming, and free-spirited partly in answer to the despair characteristic of Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness or Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour. The result is a witty and stylish story that offers exceptional insight into the world of upcoming writers and artists of in 1930s London, chronicling their rejection of society's established sexual mores and their heroic pursuits of art and life.
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Used availability for Mary Renault's The Friendly Young Ladies
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Hardback Editions
August 1984 : Hardback
| Title: Friendly Young Ladies (New Portway Reprints) Author(s): Mary Renault ISBN: 0-85119-282-3 / 978-0-85119-282-6 (UK edition) Publisher: Chivers P Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
November 1975 : Hardback
| Title: Friendly Young Ladies Author(s): Mary Renault ISBN: 0-85997-138-4 / 978-0-85997-138-6 (UK edition) Publisher: C.Chivers Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
May 1970 : Hardback
| Title: Friendly Young Ladies (New Portway Reprints) Author(s): Mary Renault ISBN: 0-85594-306-8 / 978-0-85594-306-6 (UK edition) Publisher: C.Chivers Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
January 1944 : Hardback
| Title: The Friendly Young Ladies Author(s): Mary Renault Publisher: Longmans Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
Paperback Editions
December 2005 : Paperback
| Title: The Friendly Young Ladies Author(s): Mary Renault ISBN: 1-84408-136-2 / 9781844081363 (UK edition) Publisher: Virago Press Ltd Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
May 2003 : Paperback
| Title: The Friendly Young Ladies Author(s): Mary Renault ISBN: 0-375-71421-9 / 978-0-375-71421-4 (USA edition) Publisher: Vintage Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
1993 : Paperback
| Title: THE FRIENDLY YOUNG LADIES Author(s): Mary Renault Publisher: Virago Press Availability: Amazon More details... |
March 1985 : Paperback
| Title: The Friendly Young Ladies Author(s): Mary Renault ISBN: 0-394-73369-X / 978-0-394-73369-2 (USA edition) Publisher: Random House Inc (P) Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
June 1984 : Paperback
| Title: The Friendly Young Ladies (Virago modern classics) Author(s): Mary Renault ISBN: 0-86068-525-X / 978-0-86068-525-8 (UK edition) Publisher: Virago Press Ltd Availability: Amazon Amazon UK Amazon CA More details... |
Other Editions
January 1984 : Unknown
| Title: The Friendly Young Ladies Author(s): Publisher: Virago Availability: Amazon Amazon UK More details... |
1944 : Unknown
| Title: The Friendly Young Ladies Author(s): Mary Renault Availability: Amazon UK More details... |
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