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The Slipper
The dramatically interwoven lives of three women, Nora, Carol, and Julie, who were best friends in college in the fifties, bring each face to face with the perils of quick success
Unknown Binding
First published September 1, 1987
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136 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Wilde
47 books95 followersJennifer Wilde is a pseudonym of T. E. Huff (Thomas Elmer Huff). He also wrote under the names Edwina Marlow and Beatrice Parker.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 17, 2015
I remember reading Jennifer Wilde books about 20 years ago, but I had never heard of "The Slipper." Needless to say, I was thrilled to receive it from NetGalley and Open Road Integrated Media. I also remember loving Jennifer Wilde's books or, at least, the ones that I read. This one did not disappoint. As a matter of fact, I think I'll go back and re-read some of my favorites.
This is a story of 3 women who meet in college and their search for the "Slipper." It is a story of 1960's Holllywood and how the studios had such a hold over each actor. There were many famous names dropped and I enjoyed remembering the history of that time. Each of the characters is supremely well developed and we know their flaws, insecurities and emotions from the beginning. The story moves quickly through each of their lives and how they individually handle the slipper that they're given. The story tells of their highs and lows, the battles they fight and the loves they encounter.
I think writing back in the late 70's and 80's was considerably different than today. I found myself truly enjoying the author's descriptions and writing more than I had in some more current novels. This book was a step back in time, both in a literal and a story well written.
This is a story of 3 women who meet in college and their search for the "Slipper." It is a story of 1960's Holllywood and how the studios had such a hold over each actor. There were many famous names dropped and I enjoyed remembering the history of that time. Each of the characters is supremely well developed and we know their flaws, insecurities and emotions from the beginning. The story moves quickly through each of their lives and how they individually handle the slipper that they're given. The story tells of their highs and lows, the battles they fight and the loves they encounter.
I think writing back in the late 70's and 80's was considerably different than today. I found myself truly enjoying the author's descriptions and writing more than I had in some more current novels. This book was a step back in time, both in a literal and a story well written.
April 22, 2015
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley.
The story of a decade (late 1950s/early 19060s) in the lives of Julie (married at 15 to Doug, a law student, after he got her pregnant), Carol (an orphan who fails to win the scholarship to university she is expecting, but gets to go anyway after she sleeps with the millionaire who makes the awards) and Nora (who writes salacious "confession" stories to fund herself through university after her Jewish parents refuse to do so if she leaves New York). The three meet at Claymore university in Indiana. Julie is working as a waitress to pay for Doug's law studies, but is asked to join an acting class because she is so talented. The "slipper" of the title refers to the Cinderella story and to the dream each girl has for her life. Julie (having had a miscarriage) wants to keep Doug happy and have a happy marriage, but deep down she also yearns to act. Carol has gone to university also aiming to become an actress (really?) and Nora dreams of becoming a famous author.
Carol does indeed become a move star (and ditches her studies immediately) but the film business proves to be as much a curse as a blessing. Nora eventually becomes a best-selling author and Julie, having fallen pregnant again just as Doug ditches her and goes off to become a lawyer, acts first in a soap opera and then also in the movies. The movie business makes up a very large part of this slightly overlong book and we learn a lot about how films were made and the industry operated at that period. There are constant references to real life authors and actresses (e.g. Doris Day, Jean-Paul Sartre) although I had no way of knowing how many of the many people referenced in passing I should have heard of.
The novel makes constant references to the difficulty the characters face as women in putting their careers first. At the end of the story two out of the three are single and tell each other that they love their careers and that it is all worth it, but I have to say that neither of them seem to enjoy their lives that much and I struggled to agree that it had indeed been worth it. While I sympathised completely with Nora leaving Hennessy after he described her writing in such disparaging terms, I fail to understand how exactly he had held her back during the year they spent together. None of the women seemed capable of sitting down with a partner, explaining how much writing or acting meant to them and negotiating to make the relationship work. I appreciate that the 1960s were a different time (they probably all died of lung cancer just after the novel's time frame for one thing), but none of the characters led particularly conventional lives in any case. Surely Norman and Carol were in the ideal position to make things work - he could have just followed her around as he seemed to have no real purpose in life as it was.
Anyway, I cared enough about the characters to want to argue with them about their choices, which is always a good sign.
The story of a decade (late 1950s/early 19060s) in the lives of Julie (married at 15 to Doug, a law student, after he got her pregnant), Carol (an orphan who fails to win the scholarship to university she is expecting, but gets to go anyway after she sleeps with the millionaire who makes the awards) and Nora (who writes salacious "confession" stories to fund herself through university after her Jewish parents refuse to do so if she leaves New York). The three meet at Claymore university in Indiana. Julie is working as a waitress to pay for Doug's law studies, but is asked to join an acting class because she is so talented. The "slipper" of the title refers to the Cinderella story and to the dream each girl has for her life. Julie (having had a miscarriage) wants to keep Doug happy and have a happy marriage, but deep down she also yearns to act. Carol has gone to university also aiming to become an actress (really?) and Nora dreams of becoming a famous author.
Carol does indeed become a move star (and ditches her studies immediately) but the film business proves to be as much a curse as a blessing. Nora eventually becomes a best-selling author and Julie, having fallen pregnant again just as Doug ditches her and goes off to become a lawyer, acts first in a soap opera and then also in the movies. The movie business makes up a very large part of this slightly overlong book and we learn a lot about how films were made and the industry operated at that period. There are constant references to real life authors and actresses (e.g. Doris Day, Jean-Paul Sartre) although I had no way of knowing how many of the many people referenced in passing I should have heard of.
The novel makes constant references to the difficulty the characters face as women in putting their careers first. At the end of the story two out of the three are single and tell each other that they love their careers and that it is all worth it, but I have to say that neither of them seem to enjoy their lives that much and I struggled to agree that it had indeed been worth it. While I sympathised completely with Nora leaving Hennessy after he described her writing in such disparaging terms, I fail to understand how exactly he had held her back during the year they spent together. None of the women seemed capable of sitting down with a partner, explaining how much writing or acting meant to them and negotiating to make the relationship work. I appreciate that the 1960s were a different time (they probably all died of lung cancer just after the novel's time frame for one thing), but none of the characters led particularly conventional lives in any case. Surely Norman and Carol were in the ideal position to make things work - he could have just followed her around as he seemed to have no real purpose in life as it was.
Anyway, I cared enough about the characters to want to argue with them about their choices, which is always a good sign.
August 31, 2016
This is one of the First romance books I every read. The women, their friendship, their love lives... the complex characters are all compelling. Great story, sex is minimal and tasteful. I have read hundreds of romance books since this book yet this book is the only one I can recall by name on a whim.If you haven't read a Jennifer Wilde book yet, start! btw, the author is a he NOT a she. Jennifer Wilde is a pen name for T.E.huff who past away in 1990. Imagine my surprise when I learned the author of a book on my keeper shelf was male!
December 1, 2016
(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
The page-turning New York Times bestseller about three college friends who boldly chase their dreams of love and success in the changing world of 1950s America.
Each one had her heart set on getting Cinderella's glass slipper . . .
In Ellsworth, Kansas, on the last day of May, high school senior Carol Martin sits with the other girls in their white summer dresses. The moment has finally arrived: The scholarship winners are going to be announced. . . . Nora Levin was accepted at half a dozen colleges, including Columbia and Vassar. But Indiana is about as far as she can get from her Brooklyn roots—and a mother whose main mission in life is to see her only daughter married. . . . Julie Hammond works at a diner to help put her husband through law school. She never finished high school, but she's about to be offered the opportunity of a lifetime.
The three young women meet at Claymore University. Nora plans to become a bestselling writer. Carol wants to be a movie star. Julie dreams of a career on the stage. From Indiana to New York, Paris to Hollywood, they discover that happily ever after requires hard work, a sense of humor, sacrifice, and choices that will test them in ways they never imagined.
Originally written in 1987, this story really suffers, in my opinion, from trying to be something it wasn't. Pat Conroy had a huge seller the year before, as did a number of others and this book felt like it was trying to be that historical best-friends saga that was popular but it just didn't work for me.
That opinion may be based also on the fact that it was 30 years old and the style was most certainly out of date. I wonder what it would have been like at the time...
Paul
ARH
The page-turning New York Times bestseller about three college friends who boldly chase their dreams of love and success in the changing world of 1950s America.
Each one had her heart set on getting Cinderella's glass slipper . . .
In Ellsworth, Kansas, on the last day of May, high school senior Carol Martin sits with the other girls in their white summer dresses. The moment has finally arrived: The scholarship winners are going to be announced. . . . Nora Levin was accepted at half a dozen colleges, including Columbia and Vassar. But Indiana is about as far as she can get from her Brooklyn roots—and a mother whose main mission in life is to see her only daughter married. . . . Julie Hammond works at a diner to help put her husband through law school. She never finished high school, but she's about to be offered the opportunity of a lifetime.
The three young women meet at Claymore University. Nora plans to become a bestselling writer. Carol wants to be a movie star. Julie dreams of a career on the stage. From Indiana to New York, Paris to Hollywood, they discover that happily ever after requires hard work, a sense of humor, sacrifice, and choices that will test them in ways they never imagined.
Originally written in 1987, this story really suffers, in my opinion, from trying to be something it wasn't. Pat Conroy had a huge seller the year before, as did a number of others and this book felt like it was trying to be that historical best-friends saga that was popular but it just didn't work for me.
That opinion may be based also on the fact that it was 30 years old and the style was most certainly out of date. I wonder what it would have been like at the time...
Paul
ARH
February 14, 2017
Nora, Carol and Julie met in college in 1955 and vow that they will each attain their Cinderella Slipper: Nora will be a best selling author, Carol and Julie will be famous actresses, and hopefully they find love along the way, too. All succeed at varying costs. This was so compulsively readable! I read it in two 200 page bursts. I liked the structure as it took us over 8 or so years, rotating chapters, but always shifting forward and never duplicating a time period. Carol lost her personality early on, I think, but I liked them all and especially enjoyed Nora and her confessionals. I worried a lot about Julie, who just barely got the ending she deserved, and it was interesting comparing her and Carol's experiences. Pity Carol couldn't use her influence to help a little, or that Nora couldn't be shown to help more than just worry every now and again. All the literary and Hollywood name dropping was super fun, too.
February 20, 2024
Three very disparate girls come together as friends, Julie the shy housewife, Nora the go get em writer and the beautiful, poised Carol.
Through the novel we see their fortunes through life, each of them dreams of finding the "glass slipper."
Their symbol of luck.
But in the cut throat world of Hollywood during the 50s can any of these girls find fulfilment at a time when it was a very male dominated world.
This was such a good read and I enjoyed the twists and turns the girls lives took.
Never read this author before but would definitely do so again.
Through the novel we see their fortunes through life, each of them dreams of finding the "glass slipper."
Their symbol of luck.
But in the cut throat world of Hollywood during the 50s can any of these girls find fulfilment at a time when it was a very male dominated world.
This was such a good read and I enjoyed the twists and turns the girls lives took.
Never read this author before but would definitely do so again.
October 8, 2023
Much Ado about Nothing
Certainly not in the literary fiction category, though it fits just fine in “cozy summer read” for a few female teenagers. A wordy coming-of-age novel. Not my cup of tea, or as the author might say, “Not my Chardonnay and caviar toast.”
Certainly not in the literary fiction category, though it fits just fine in “cozy summer read” for a few female teenagers. A wordy coming-of-age novel. Not my cup of tea, or as the author might say, “Not my Chardonnay and caviar toast.”
August 21, 2019
Interesting, about views on life seen by different women. Found it a bit hard to stay involved in the book, but did not dislike it
November 30, 2020
3-1/2*
December 1, 2024
I've never seen the world virile used so many times in one book. The whole thing seemed hastily slapped together and in need of an editor.
April 8, 2015
4.5 stars!
I just loved this book. It was such a good read. I sunk into it and was totally swept up in the story of these 3 girls and their lives. The story starts in the 50s and the author did a wonderful job of capturing the feel of the times and the attitude to women that was prevalent then.
We follow the women as they go through college and embark upon their futures. Each of them have challenges and how they choose to meet them and overcome them made a great story. The theme running through the book was each of them obtaining the ‘glass slipper’ just like Cinderella. They gain their slipper but it’s not quite what they imagined it would be and that’s what makes it such an interesting and enjoyable read.
When I got to the end of the book I almost wished that it could keep going, that we could continue to follow the women to see what was to come next in their lives, but it was finished in a good place for each of them. When I closed the cover (figuratively, of course as I have a Kindle) I let out a big sigh and just sat quietly for a while to let the story really sink in.
I highly recommend this book. It’s perfect for a wet weekend, where you could just curl up in a chair and let this story wrap around you like a nice, snuggly blankie.
Complementary copy provided by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I just loved this book. It was such a good read. I sunk into it and was totally swept up in the story of these 3 girls and their lives. The story starts in the 50s and the author did a wonderful job of capturing the feel of the times and the attitude to women that was prevalent then.
We follow the women as they go through college and embark upon their futures. Each of them have challenges and how they choose to meet them and overcome them made a great story. The theme running through the book was each of them obtaining the ‘glass slipper’ just like Cinderella. They gain their slipper but it’s not quite what they imagined it would be and that’s what makes it such an interesting and enjoyable read.
When I got to the end of the book I almost wished that it could keep going, that we could continue to follow the women to see what was to come next in their lives, but it was finished in a good place for each of them. When I closed the cover (figuratively, of course as I have a Kindle) I let out a big sigh and just sat quietly for a while to let the story really sink in.
I highly recommend this book. It’s perfect for a wet weekend, where you could just curl up in a chair and let this story wrap around you like a nice, snuggly blankie.
Complementary copy provided by the author/publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 24, 2021
Three main characters and three different but parallel stories that keep intersecting every now and then. I found it entertaining and a perfect book to read on holiday.
July 23, 2013
I read this when I was a teenager. I remember really liking how easily you could picture the characters. They were a combination of people I knew, or have met at some time or another. I would have to read it again to refresh my memory.
It was a romance and kind of a chick-lit, but not too sappy.
It was a romance and kind of a chick-lit, but not too sappy.
April 6, 2015
Great read
January 30, 2016
It's a cinderella story. but I enjoyed certains part of it.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews