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Second Harvest
This novel tells of Monica Crawshaw's relationship with two men - with the sensual, selfish Hamish McPhail who brutally betrays her, and with Victor Towers, a young man of gentle disposition with whom she discovers love of a strength and depth she has never known before. But driven by distress, Monica commits a grave wrong against Victor. She practices upon him, and finally upon his parents, a tragic deception which has repercussions for many years to come, and which, despite her attempts to justify it to herself, weighs heavily upon her conscience.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1953
5 people want to read
About the author
Naomi Jacob
101 books4 followersNaomi Eleanor Clare Jacob was an English author, actress and broadcaster. Daughter of Nina Abbott.
The British lesbian author Naomi Jacob (1889-1964) had been a teacher, a suffragette, a playwright and an actress, but ultimately achieved her greatest success, beginning in the mid-1920s, as author of some 75 popular novels, plus women's magazine series, advice books and at least one biography. She moved to Italy (where a significant portion of this book is set) in 1930, and at one time reportedly had an unrequited crush on Una Troubridge, longtime companion of Radclyffe Hall. (In Diana Souhami's biography of Hall, Ms. Jacob is described thusly: "She was Jewish, large, wore tweeds and clubbish ties and liked a drink.") She is remembered today best as -- well, actually, she's barely remembered at all.
The British lesbian author Naomi Jacob (1889-1964) had been a teacher, a suffragette, a playwright and an actress, but ultimately achieved her greatest success, beginning in the mid-1920s, as author of some 75 popular novels, plus women's magazine series, advice books and at least one biography. She moved to Italy (where a significant portion of this book is set) in 1930, and at one time reportedly had an unrequited crush on Una Troubridge, longtime companion of Radclyffe Hall. (In Diana Souhami's biography of Hall, Ms. Jacob is described thusly: "She was Jewish, large, wore tweeds and clubbish ties and liked a drink.") She is remembered today best as -- well, actually, she's barely remembered at all.
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December 31, 2025
Naomi Jacob was quite prolific, over 70 novels etc but very few read her these days. Her biography is quite fascinating, an unrequited crush on Radclyffe Hall's partner indeed! I digress however, Second Harvest is pretty solidly middlebrow. Young nurse has a fling with a recuperating soldier lothario, has one night of passion and falls pregnant. Faced with this reality in the early 1940's she marries another wounded soldier in the hospital who has fallen hopelessly in love with her.
Unfortunately he is killed in the war and no one knows that her child is not his. Should she tell the truth to her in-laws whom she has been living with or should she maintain the fiction. Oh the suspense and the melodrama, you'll just have to read it to find out what happens.
Far superior to the one other title, I read of hers, Jacob Usher which was dreadful, it's still far from an essential or unfairly neglected book but does address the difficulties unwed pregnant women faced in society.
Unfortunately he is killed in the war and no one knows that her child is not his. Should she tell the truth to her in-laws whom she has been living with or should she maintain the fiction. Oh the suspense and the melodrama, you'll just have to read it to find out what happens.
Far superior to the one other title, I read of hers, Jacob Usher which was dreadful, it's still far from an essential or unfairly neglected book but does address the difficulties unwed pregnant women faced in society.
Displaying 1 of 1 review