THE MARRIAGE BED. by Beresford-Howe, Constance - 1981

Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1981. 232 pp, 8vo (8 3/4" H). "Meet Anne Graham, mother of three-year-old Martha and one-year-old Hugh, young, attractive, heavily pregnant - and alone. Things have not worked out at all the way Anne intended. Her teenage plans of marrying a rich Older Man who would put her through university were thwarted when Max, the first suitable candidate to come along, married Anne's mother, Billie, instead. Then her promising academic career was cut short when her first real romance led to an unexpected pregnancy and an early marriage. Finally, and much more recently, her stable home life crumbled with her husband's announcement that he was leaving her to move into a commune with his secretary. Now she is a housebound single mother of two and three-quarter children, whose intellectual life has shrunk to stolen moments of bedtime reading. The solution to her problem is clear to her friends and neighbours. She must find someone to mind the children and then go back to school or get at job. It's obvious. Or is it? Once again, Constance Beresford-Howe has approached a common theme from an uncommon point of view, with her own blend of perceptiveness and ironic humour. The result is a book that is gritty, entertaining, and, ultimately, optimistic - just like its heroine." Minor edgewear, a few tiny foxing marks on top of textblock, slight wrinkling at top/bottom of spine, tiny faint scuff on front board. Dust jacket has light edgewear/wrinkling, a few tiny edge tears, minor rubbing/soiling, tiny scuff on front panel.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good.