Nellie Without Hugo

The temporary departure of her English husband to Africa leaves Nellie in New York to try and repossess the territory she has sacrificed in marriage.

Uneasily re-entering the sexual arena with the solidly unexceptional Connaly – a previous lover – she finds her new strategy confused by the varying fortunes of her family: Sarah, a dishevelled reminder of the flimsiness of women’s fates; Rebecca, once a cool vision of self-sufficiency, now about to trade in her footloose existence; and the undaunted Louisa, who. at sixty still relishes an affair of the heart…

Gradually, Nellie comes to terms with the price of independence – and of love.