Woman At The Window

Description for WOMAN AT THE WINDOW by Nelia Gardner White:

In this novel of conflict between two sisters---quiet, introspective Liz and beautiful dominating Anna---Nelia Gardner White has done one of her most telling portrayals of character and has written a perpetually surprising story of family life. Liz is the "little sister"" who grew up in the shadow of Anna's sparkling personality. When Anna married, Liz stayed home. She is twenty-seven at the opening of the story, and circumstances have finally freed her. She has a job, an apartment in a strange town, a chance to shape her own future.

When a serious accident permanently invalids Anna, Liz is called upon to be nurse, companion, and housekeeper for Anna and her husband and child. The prospect of living a life of her own is postponed---perhaps forever. Anna's disablement has made her charm and her will all the stronger. Sitting in the window of her upstairs room, she watches the people who pass in the street, knows all the life of the town, holds court for her many friends, rules the household at will. Liz gradually sees that Anna is sapping the life of her husband and little son, the life of anyone on who she can gain a hold, to add to the half-life she has left.

In Anna, Mrs. White has drawn a subtle and true portrait of the domineering woman who unscrupulously exerts her power over other people. In Liz there is the warmly understanding story of a girl learning to stand on her own feet, trying desperately to save herself from a senseless denial of the man she loves.