The Remarkable Journey of Miss Tranby Quirke

Feel How Far We Have Come In September 1909, upon the death of Agnes Ellington-Pilch, Miss Tranby Quirke, at the old age or thirty-four, became president of The British Society For The Aid Of Distressed Spinsters And Gentlewomen-In-Need. Miss Quirke is near death herself, due to despondency, having recently provoked an irreconcilable rift with her lover, the beautiful nineteen-year-old Mrs. Lysette McDonald. This vivid story takes the reader back to a time and place where man thought he controlled, and woman existed only to "indulge" her husband. In that setting, what is a nice lesbian supposed to do? Ms. Ridley imagined that conflict, and told us precisely what happened to a pleasant lady with secret, perplexing instincts. Throughout this tale, I smiled and felt good, because Ms. Ridley let me feel how far we have come.

I greatly enjoyed this book. It was a rare find. The novel revolves around two women, Tranby Quirke, a 34 year old spinster who is teaching a course for 'Modern Young Women', and is a secret feminist, and her 19 year old student, Mrs. Lysette MacDonald, a very unhappily married lady.Tranby is reluctant to become involved with Lysette, as the information on "inverts" as homosexuals were called in that time, was quite negative and she was risking her career and reputation.Lysette, not only is in love with Tranby, but also desperate to escape a husband who beats her because she is not yet pregnant.The ending is unexpected, and with a marvelous, quite believable twist to it.An altogether delightful story. My only compliant was the portions of the book containing the "Dear Lysette" letters by Tranby, which at times I found a bit morbid, so I focused mainly on the real story. I confess I skipped the next to last chapter entirely because it was nothing but one of those rambling letters. However, it is quite important the reader read the Dear Lysette letter in the last chapter, or they will miss the ending, where Tranby's imagination and what is really happening with the characters all comes together.Although I admit I was slightly confused as to whether that really happened, or was Tranby's imagination.I am assuming that is what really happened to the characters.The "letters" was the reason the novel got 4 stars rather than 5.The "romantic feelings" of Tranby for Lysette are what I enjoyed most about the book.