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What Other Years Have Done
'I only wanted to keep her as she was in a memory. And for that, more than any other wrong I have done, I am truly sorry.'
After more than two decades abroad, Lillie Carrigan - now in her mid-forties - returns to New York for a year to teach at Barnard College, determined to believe the past is finally behind her. In England, she has built a life of poise and apparent stability with a British artist. Now, back in the land of her childhood, old loyalties, old wounds, and old desires begin to stir.
As Lillie is drawn once more into the orbit of her childhood friend Lara, her glamorous, brittle friend Mallory, and the husband she thought she had left far behind, the carefully ordered story she tells herself starts to come apart. Against the turbulence of the late 1960s and the rising force of Women's Liberation, What Other Years Have Done is a seductive, piercing novel of memory, grief, female friendship, betrayal, and the dangerous persistence of love.
After more than two decades abroad, Lillie Carrigan - now in her mid-forties - returns to New York for a year to teach at Barnard College, determined to believe the past is finally behind her. In England, she has built a life of poise and apparent stability with a British artist. Now, back in the land of her childhood, old loyalties, old wounds, and old desires begin to stir.
As Lillie is drawn once more into the orbit of her childhood friend Lara, her glamorous, brittle friend Mallory, and the husband she thought she had left far behind, the carefully ordered story she tells herself starts to come apart. Against the turbulence of the late 1960s and the rising force of Women's Liberation, What Other Years Have Done is a seductive, piercing novel of memory, grief, female friendship, betrayal, and the dangerous persistence of love.
288 pages, Paperback
Published September 10, 2026
About the author
Susan Furber
3 books12 followersSusan Furber is an editor and author. "The Essence of an Hour", her debut novel, published in 2021, followed by its sequel “We Were Very Merry” in 2023 (Valley Press).
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 21, 2026
What Other Years Have Done concludes Susan Furber's impressive trilogy of historical fiction novels, following Lillie Carringan's loves, friendships and memories into her mid-forties between New York and England in the 1960s.
The final book is a natural continuation from The Essence of an Hour and We Were Very Merry, exploring what it means to be a woman, this time one who has truly reached the end of girlhood and youth, no longer society's image of brilliance and beauty.
As with the previous two novels, Lillie's preoccupation with the past is at the core of the narrative. She is a woman who has never quite let go of the girl within her, never quite settled, never quite reached maturity (at least within her own eyes).
Her two female friendships have become unsettled; on the one hand, she has outgrown the friendship with her childhood friend, Lara, neither woman willing to give voice to their separation or mutual loathing; while the sexual liberation and reckless insouciance of her college friend, Mallory, leads to neither woman being able to confide emotionally and truthfully in the other.
Finishing this trilogy was bittersweet as Lillie's voice and thoughts reminded me so much of my own, so torn between guilt over past transgressions and a desire to be better. I was truly breathless reading the last few pages.
*Kindly gifted a copy of this book by the author, but all thoughts are my own
The final book is a natural continuation from The Essence of an Hour and We Were Very Merry, exploring what it means to be a woman, this time one who has truly reached the end of girlhood and youth, no longer society's image of brilliance and beauty.
As with the previous two novels, Lillie's preoccupation with the past is at the core of the narrative. She is a woman who has never quite let go of the girl within her, never quite settled, never quite reached maturity (at least within her own eyes).
Her two female friendships have become unsettled; on the one hand, she has outgrown the friendship with her childhood friend, Lara, neither woman willing to give voice to their separation or mutual loathing; while the sexual liberation and reckless insouciance of her college friend, Mallory, leads to neither woman being able to confide emotionally and truthfully in the other.
Finishing this trilogy was bittersweet as Lillie's voice and thoughts reminded me so much of my own, so torn between guilt over past transgressions and a desire to be better. I was truly breathless reading the last few pages.
*Kindly gifted a copy of this book by the author, but all thoughts are my own
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review