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Two's Company
New Yorker Claire Farrell, literally following her favorite star in the person of a white-toothed young man of the theatre, visits her grandparents and gentle, charming aunt in their old home in Williamsburg, Virginia. Claire learns something about values and life in general when the shallow character of her friend reveals itself, and she learns to appreciate a young architect whose relaxed good nature and maturity win her affection.
190 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1951
About the author
Betty Cavanna
87 books63 followersAmerican juvenile author (full name: Elizabeth Allen) Betty Cavanna suffered from a crippling disease, infantile paralysis, as a child, which she eventually overcame with treatment and exercise. During her convalescence, attentive adults read to her until she was old enough to read to herself, beginning a long love affair with books.
Cavanna majored in journalism at the New Jersey College for Women in New Brunswick, from where she received the Bachelor of Letters degree in 1929. She also took art classes in New York and Philadelphia. Cavanna's first job was as a reporter for the Bayonne Times. In 1931 she joined the staff of the Westminster Press in Philadelphia and over the next ten years served as advertising manager and art director. She also wrote and sold material to Methodist and Baptist publishing firms. In 1940 she married Edward Talman Headley, with whom she had a son. They moved to Philadelphia. After her husband's death, she married George Russell Harrison, a university dean of science, as well as nonfiction writer, in 1957. He died in 1979.
Cavanna became a full-time writer in 1941. Since then she has written more than seventy books under the name of Betty Cavanna as well as two pseudonyms: Betsy Allen, under which she wrote the "Connie Blair Mystery" series, and Elizabeth Headley, under which she wrote several books, including the Diane stories. As Betty Cavanna she also published the nonfiction "Around the World Today" about young people living in various countries.
Cavanna's juvenile fiction, about the difficulties of adolescenc, appealed to generations of teenage girls. Her characters confronted loneliness, sibling rivalries, divorce, and tense mother-daughter relationships. Her books, although characterized as pleasant, conventional, and stereotyped, have been extremely popular and recommended by critics for their attention to subjects which have reflected girls' interests. Going on Sixteen and Secret Passage were Spring Book Festival honor books in 1946 and 1947.
In the 1970s Cavanna turned to writing mysteries, which she termed "escape fiction," because she said she felt out of sync with the problems of modern teenagers. Two of her books have been runners-up for the Edgar Allan Poe Award: Spice Island Mystery in 1970 and the Ghost of Ballyhooly in 1972.
She died in France (2001).
Cavanna majored in journalism at the New Jersey College for Women in New Brunswick, from where she received the Bachelor of Letters degree in 1929. She also took art classes in New York and Philadelphia. Cavanna's first job was as a reporter for the Bayonne Times. In 1931 she joined the staff of the Westminster Press in Philadelphia and over the next ten years served as advertising manager and art director. She also wrote and sold material to Methodist and Baptist publishing firms. In 1940 she married Edward Talman Headley, with whom she had a son. They moved to Philadelphia. After her husband's death, she married George Russell Harrison, a university dean of science, as well as nonfiction writer, in 1957. He died in 1979.
Cavanna became a full-time writer in 1941. Since then she has written more than seventy books under the name of Betty Cavanna as well as two pseudonyms: Betsy Allen, under which she wrote the "Connie Blair Mystery" series, and Elizabeth Headley, under which she wrote several books, including the Diane stories. As Betty Cavanna she also published the nonfiction "Around the World Today" about young people living in various countries.
Cavanna's juvenile fiction, about the difficulties of adolescenc, appealed to generations of teenage girls. Her characters confronted loneliness, sibling rivalries, divorce, and tense mother-daughter relationships. Her books, although characterized as pleasant, conventional, and stereotyped, have been extremely popular and recommended by critics for their attention to subjects which have reflected girls' interests. Going on Sixteen and Secret Passage were Spring Book Festival honor books in 1946 and 1947.
In the 1970s Cavanna turned to writing mysteries, which she termed "escape fiction," because she said she felt out of sync with the problems of modern teenagers. Two of her books have been runners-up for the Edgar Allan Poe Award: Spice Island Mystery in 1970 and the Ghost of Ballyhooly in 1972.
She died in France (2001).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 15, 2024
A summer in Williamsburg with her grandparents helps 18 year old Claire grow up
My review: https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/20...
My review: https://perfectretort.blogspot.com/20...
December 15, 2018
This one doesn’t hold up. The Williamsburg background could’ve been interesting, but feels like an afterthought. Characters are almost uniformly unlikable, the romance predictable, and the casual racism of the era is in full swing. Not one for the ages.
June 5, 2025
This was not one of my favorite Cavanna books, but I must admit that each if her books are unique.
With her parents in Paris for the summer, eighteen year-old Clair decides to drive from New York City to her elderly grandparents in Williamsburg. This is where the story opens. Her objective is chasing after an actor at the local theater, named Whit Bowden. Clair is a rich spoiled girl. She is scornful of her Aunt Rosemary, who lives with the her parents and supports them. She's also rather scornful of her old-fashioned grandparents. She first meets Philip Young when he talks himself into a ride when his old jalopy breaks down- and then discovers that he's a paying boarder at her grandparent's. She doesn't see that Philip is worth a dozen of Whit, who is rather egotistical.
Maybe I don't like the book very much because I didn't like the heroine of the story.
With her parents in Paris for the summer, eighteen year-old Clair decides to drive from New York City to her elderly grandparents in Williamsburg. This is where the story opens. Her objective is chasing after an actor at the local theater, named Whit Bowden. Clair is a rich spoiled girl. She is scornful of her Aunt Rosemary, who lives with the her parents and supports them. She's also rather scornful of her old-fashioned grandparents. She first meets Philip Young when he talks himself into a ride when his old jalopy breaks down- and then discovers that he's a paying boarder at her grandparent's. She doesn't see that Philip is worth a dozen of Whit, who is rather egotistical.
Maybe I don't like the book very much because I didn't like the heroine of the story.
February 18, 2026
3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews