Misfortune's Friend

Misfortune's Friend by Sarah Aldridge 'Mrs. Henshaw, a middle-aged, unfashionable, faded, who nevertheless pours out the vigor and decisive energy of a young woman in determined efforts to help the friendless, the homeless, the hungy; ... But also the compassionate rescuer of Althea, born to wealth and privilege but crippled by polio, psychically isolated, hungy for the warmth of intimate love which seems forever beyond her reach. And of Fern, independent, restless, emotionally adrift amidst the racial and political turbulence of Belin and London in the 1930's, on the eve of World War II. Yet it is from these two youjng women that she learns that she must correct a mistake made in the past, which has brought anguish to her dearest love and unacknowledged loss to herself.' (Summary on back cover.) This story is written from the perspective of Althea who arrives at her Aunt's doorstep as a 14 year old at odds with the world and her life due to a withered leg from contracting polio at age 6. Though her Aunt Majorie is a lesbian Althea doesn't put the puzzle of her Aunt's life together until she goes abroad after college where she meets and falls in love with Fern, as aspiring actress. It's there in London that Althea fully understands the relationship of Mrs. Henshaw and her Aunt. I did not find this book to be as compelling as other work's of hers that I've read but it's definitely a keeper and will go into my collection to be read again and again. There is just something about the way Sarah Aldridge writes that spellbinds me. She can get to the innermost workings of women in love in ways that modern writers can only do with page after page of tumultuous sex. Which, by the way, there isn't much. On the hot meter this is a 3, on the love meter it's a 10. **Remember - if you want your favorite authors to keep writing for us they have to be able to earn a living doing it. Always buy a NEW book. I know it sucks but if you're not going to keep it in your collection recycle it.**