Jane Breckener, from Sydney, receives her first teaching appointment at a high
school in a small town on the north coast of NSW. Here she falls in love with
Mark McMillan, an ambitious young dairy farmer who shows no interest in her except
as a friend. She is devastated when he becomes infatuated with her best friend
and flatmate. But the affair does not last, and suddenly, at a time when Jane
is facing a major crisis in her life, Mark asks her to marry him. Jane accepts
his proposal, but she takes into the marriage all her doubts and worries about
Mark, and her obsessive dependence on him. The resulting problems, combined with
other setbacks and difficulties, eventually become insurmountable. After many
years, during which Jane makes a new life for herself and in the process gains
independence, confidence and peace of mind, she finally learns the truth about
Mark and her marriage. She is then faced with a decision harder than any other
she has ever had to make. This epic story, with its authentically Australian
setting, traces Jane’s life from the time she was a child growing up in
Sydney in the 1950s to her retirement from teaching at the beginning of this
century. Against a background of some of the main social changes that took place
during this time, it evokes strong emotions as it explores issues such as attitudes
to pre-marital sex and pregnancy, the work/child rearing bind faced by women,
and dealing with adolescents in the new “permissive age.” Running
like a thread through all the years are the main themes of marriage, separation
and abiding love.
Read more about the author “Rhonda Scott”
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