A Summer Bird-Cage by Margaret Drabble

A Summer Bird-Cage by Margaret Drabble

I confess:  I did not enjoy this book at all!  Every feminist bone in my body was protesting the content of this book.

The two main characters, Sarah and Louise, are insufferable! They are cold and unemotional girls who have been brought up in a middle-class family and been fortunate enough to attend Oxford.  Despite opportunities and a good education, the ‘achingly beautiful sister’ still marries a boring, arrogant and unstable man because he has money  ?.

The blurb on the back of the book:

“Two sisters:  Louise, achingly beautiful, sophisticated and elegant, and Sarah, attractive, witty and intelligent, (but not quite enough to compete), who has always felt left behind.

Then Louise marries the wealthy but unappealing novelist Stephen Halifax, and Sarah, newly graduated from Oxford, is thrown back into family affairs.  As Louise enters a high-profile world of glamour, parties and gossip columns, Sarah, drifting in London with her degree and new-found freedom, is only allowed glimpses into this new alien life.  However, the cracks begin to show in Louise’s marriage and rumours of infidelity spread, Sarah discovers that, beneath her cool exterior, her sister is not quite the person she thought she was…”

I give this book TWO COFFEE CUPS ☕☕