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To Have and To Hold #42
Private Lessons
Professor Andrew Everest's quiet strength, distinguished gallantry, And dashing good looks draw Carrie like a flower to sunlight. Her uninhibited spirit and celebration of life fire Andrew's passion. Though their marriage shocks their friends and defies family convention, the newlyweds are blissfully unconcerned.
But can a fervent social activist survive on her husband's conservative college campus? Rumbles of disapproval become thunderclaps of outrage when Carrie's women's group challenges the college's tradition-bound tenure system. Suddenly Andrew's career is at stake, husband is pitted against wife, and chaos reigns both on campus ... and in the most intimate corners of their lives!
But can a fervent social activist survive on her husband's conservative college campus? Rumbles of disapproval become thunderclaps of outrage when Carrie's women's group challenges the college's tradition-bound tenure system. Suddenly Andrew's career is at stake, husband is pitted against wife, and chaos reigns both on campus ... and in the most intimate corners of their lives!
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1984
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 15, 2023
This was a good story and the title fits, as both the H and h had some lessons to learn and conclusions to come to by themselves, as well as make the necessary adjustments as a newly married couple who had different outlooks on life.
Brought up by liberal lawyers who fought for the underdog, Carrie is a warmhearted, impulsive bookstore owner who fights for any worthy cause she believes in. Raised by conservative socialites in a closeknit academic atmosphere, Andrew is a college history professor, up for tenure, who seldom strays from the narrow confines of the world his parents and grandparents inhabited.
Never one to rock the boat, Andrew finds himself married to a woman who'll let it tip over or sink, if she believes it's necessary. That situation arises when Carrie finds out that several women professors are up for tenure but unlikely to get it, as the archaic Asquith University doesn't believe in tenure for women, no matter how much they deserve it. Carrie decides to fight this injustice, while at the same time trying not to let this affect her relationship with the man that she loves with all her heart, not to mention his relationship with his colleagues, two not so easy tasks!
Both have to learn how to compromise and understand each other better, and what I like about this book is their willingness to do so, as arguments don't last long, there's no prolonged periods of not speaking, sleeping in separate rooms or stubbornness and refusal to see the other's side. There's also never any doubt how much they love each other.
Andrew also has to face some truths about himself and the path his life has taken, with some surprising results.
There are interesting supporting characters, not all of them likeable. A faculty member (who, had things gone as he planned, would have been Andrew's father-in-law) who reveals his bigotry when it becomes clear that the real reason that he didn't want one of the women to have tenure was not because of her gender but her lower middle-class background! The same was true about the brilliant professor and good friend of Andrew's, who came from a working-class Jewish family. A snob to end all snobs!
The little side story of an unlikely romance might have made a good novel in itself, but unfortunately here it was too rushed and happened way to fast to be believable. The author should have taken it slower, with a few hints here and there, and made it a sequel to this book, which could have also included our MC, and followed up on how things worked out for them after the story ended here.
Anyway, I won't say anymore, just that I think this is worth reading, and one of the best in this series that I've read so far.
Brought up by liberal lawyers who fought for the underdog, Carrie is a warmhearted, impulsive bookstore owner who fights for any worthy cause she believes in. Raised by conservative socialites in a closeknit academic atmosphere, Andrew is a college history professor, up for tenure, who seldom strays from the narrow confines of the world his parents and grandparents inhabited.
Never one to rock the boat, Andrew finds himself married to a woman who'll let it tip over or sink, if she believes it's necessary. That situation arises when Carrie finds out that several women professors are up for tenure but unlikely to get it, as the archaic Asquith University doesn't believe in tenure for women, no matter how much they deserve it. Carrie decides to fight this injustice, while at the same time trying not to let this affect her relationship with the man that she loves with all her heart, not to mention his relationship with his colleagues, two not so easy tasks!
Both have to learn how to compromise and understand each other better, and what I like about this book is their willingness to do so, as arguments don't last long, there's no prolonged periods of not speaking, sleeping in separate rooms or stubbornness and refusal to see the other's side. There's also never any doubt how much they love each other.
Andrew also has to face some truths about himself and the path his life has taken, with some surprising results.
There are interesting supporting characters, not all of them likeable. A faculty member (who, had things gone as he planned, would have been Andrew's father-in-law) who reveals his bigotry when it becomes clear that the real reason that he didn't want one of the women to have tenure was not because of her gender but her lower middle-class background! The same was true about the brilliant professor and good friend of Andrew's, who came from a working-class Jewish family. A snob to end all snobs!
The little side story of an unlikely romance might have made a good novel in itself, but unfortunately here it was too rushed and happened way to fast to be believable. The author should have taken it slower, with a few hints here and there, and made it a sequel to this book, which could have also included our MC, and followed up on how things worked out for them after the story ended here.
Anyway, I won't say anymore, just that I think this is worth reading, and one of the best in this series that I've read so far.
Displaying 1 of 1 review