Woman at the Window

by Nelia Gardner White

Book by White, Nelia Gardner

255 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

Nelia Gardner White, one of five children of a Methodist minister, lived in several small towns as she was growing up. Though the family had very little money, the atmosphere of the home was happy; life was filled with "books, friends, and fun." By taking many different sorts of jobs, White was able to attend Syracuse University for two years (1911-13) and the Emma Willard Kindergarten School (1913-15). After several years as a kindergarten teacher, she married a lawyer. The couple had two children.

During World War II, as a guest of the British Ministry of Information, White wrote articles about England. In 1948 she won the $8,000 prize in the Westminster Press Fiction Contest with her novel No Trumpet Before Him. White gives great credit for her start as a writer to Maude Stewart, a teacher in the kindergarten school who helped her toward an understanding of human character and of the various relationships between people. White contributed articles about child care to a kindergarten magazine. She began writing fiction with stories for kindergarten children and four novels for young people and then branched out to adult fiction. The rest of her life is a record of much industry and a great deal of success. Hundreds of her stories appeared in such popular magazines as the American, Ladies' Home Journal, People's Home Journal, Midland, McCall's, Pictorial Review, Forum, and Good Housekeeping. In addition, she wrote 25 novels.

Reviews

[Vanessa Price]

This is one of the rare books where I really like the story, but I don't really like any of the characters. Still, I feel compelled to give it 4 stars because it was well written, and because I wanted to keep reading.

Woman at the Window is about a woman, Elizabeth, who is called back home to care for her sister, Anna, who has been in a horrible accident and is now paralyzed from the waist down. They did not get along as children, Elizabeth being the younger, overshadowed, awkward sister and Anna being the prettier, older sister whom everyone adored. They fall right back into these roles when Elizabeth arrives and she spends the entire book trying to crawl out from under this shadow and oppression that Anna puts on her simply through the power of Anna's hold over everyone around her.

I found Elizabeth to be smart but her path of self discovery was a bit annoying. She assumed a lot and made silly decisions based on what she "knew in her gut" to be true about what other people were thinking or what they meant, when she didn't have any proof to back her up.

Anna, I think, was meant to be likable. I feel like the author wanted us to feel sorry for her because of her accident and to be charmed by her affable nature and ability to know people so well, but I could not get past what a huge gossip she was, how nosy and pushy she was and how matter of fact she was that everyone worshiped her.

I know I'm putting a terrible spin on this story, but what I did enjoy was the small town, old timey setting and the honest and frank way everyone spoke with one another. I stick with 4 stars and would encourage anyone who enjoys reading about simpler times to read it.

[Cassandra]

This summer I finished another Nelia Gardner White novel, The Pink House, which I ended up really loving. I’m glad that book seems to be gaining some attention and finally being paid its due from being forgotten for decades.

This book, Woman at the Window, is also worth checking out / unburying from obscurity. It’s a similar character study vibe as The Pink House. She writes likeable protagonists and seems to capture the pain of unrequited love very well. I’m glad Meg gave Anna the dressing down she sorely needed in the end. White writes complicated family dynamics in a captivating way as well.

Justice for Nelia Gardner White who has been forgotten undeservedly!

[Bonnie]

3.5. It was an interesting character study type book. I think I expected it to be different, and that may have affected my enjoyment of it. Someone had referred to it as a psychological thriller, and I don’t think that’s what it was. But it was an interesting story about how one person’s personality affects so many people. It was pretty psychologically heavy, more than plot heavy, and I did like the ending.

[Donna]

Great psychological thriller!

[Lisa]

I've learned two things from this author:

1. By saying it this way, "she wants to eat her cake and have it, too," I finally knew what this saying meant. We say it the other way, "she wants to have her cake and eat it, too." I never got it.

2. I now know why people say you shouldn't pity someone. I never understood that because I LOVE it when someone sympathizes with me. I love to hear, "Aw, poor Lisa!" But White's book No Trumpet Before Him and this one has a theme of Don't-Pity, and a sentence from a character just explained it to me. First Elizabeth says, "I'm always feeling sorry for people. I can't bear it, thinking how people suffer, over little things and big things." And then her friend says, "But you have to give them credit for enough strength to bear their own sorrows, don't you?" There it is. It's respectful to assume someone has it in them to bear their own sorrows. (Somehow, there seems to be something twisted about that. Something askew, not right. So apparently, I'm still confused about it.)

Okay, it's official: I don't think I agree with #2. Here's why...

"Yes, Adrian was right--that was the kind of thing Anna would hate bitterly... two relatives talking her over for her own good." And so they stopped talking, when what they were really doing was caring for someone they loved. Something's messed up here.