The Prodigal Woman

by Nancy Hale

Excellent Book

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1943

About the author

Nancy L. Hale has a master’s degree in education. For over twenty years, she worked as a licensed mental health counselor specializing on grief and trauma. She lives with her loving husband and two wheaten terriers, Maggie and Molly, in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. She takes pleasure in talking with God and reveling in nature while she works in her gardens and watches wild birds in the yard.

Reviews

[LS · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, many of the other reviews I just read express what I would & therefore needn't. I'm one of Those who never quit a book I've begun unless ... I didn't quit this 1942 novel recommended by highly trusted Bath, UK, bookstore, Persephone Books. [I'm not there, far from it.] But I did recognize the satire, structure, & repetition after reading 2/3's of the story, and I really couldn't face more repetition of the 3 women characters' circumscribed lives. What kept me reading after skipping a hundred pages [ready to backtrack if necessary] were pages of such eloquent interior monologue by the characters and/or authorial observation of It All that I couldn't help dog-earing those. Nancy Hale was clearly a fine writer. Like her characters, she was trapped in a female-hobbling epoch. The most interesting character is the one who likely mirrors the author. Leda is a poet who takes the whole novel to arrive at her epiphany. The 2 other women are sisters whose attraction to their mates is unexplained and for me, inexplicable. The men in the story are 2 dimensional, walls against whom the women are thrown to see what will stick. I nearly rated the novel a 4 for the occasional splendid writing ... can recommend it for a course in Women's Lit if used for contrast. Alas, it's not like misogyny and women voting for it aren't contemporary, but if published today, this novel of 3 lost white women [only one prodigal found] wouldn't be welcomed by many genders/races.