Woven Threads

"I ain't going to be a skivvy forever, mind. One day, I'll get back to my books." So declares Clara when, on the death of her father, she has to forego her ambition of becoming a school teacher and go into service. Her time spent in the home of an affluent family sets her life on a course she never anticipated. Though she is content with her life, she is determined that her eldest daughter, Catherine, will benefit from the education she herself was denied. Catherine resists, with unhappy consequences. It is Clara's Granddaughter, Annie, who freed from the constraints of male domination , is able to take advantages of the opening up of education to women in Edwardian England. Throughout the novel, Clara strives to act in the best interests of both her daughter and granddaughter, with mixed success.