The Seven Sisters

When Candida Wilton arrives alone in London, recently betrayed, divorced, and rejected, she wonders what more can happen, at her age, to change her life. And yet, as she climbs the dingy communal staircase with her suitcases, she feels both nervous and exhilarated. Candida confides the details of her progress to a diary that slowly takes on a strong persona of its own, as it often scathingly comments on the trappings of modern life, and uncovers the layers of her past and present life. And when Candida receives a sudden windfall, she takes a group of six friends, women who in one way or another find themselves straddling generations, on a trip she has long dreamed of to Tunis, Naples, and Pompeii, with surprising results. Lively, beautifully rendered, rich in literary allusions and psychological insight, The Seven Sisters is a splendid, broadly appealing novel about starting over.