Jane Mander (1877–1949)

I can see why some have considered the film The Piano to have been inspired by this - the resemblance in the setup is unmistakeable - but "inspired by" is as far as it goes. Yes, our repressed heroine, with a daughter borne out of wedlock, makes a loveless marriage, brings daughter and piano to her isolated home, and falls in love with a local. But this isn't exactly a new story. The world is full of stories about adulterous love triangles, approximately two of which I've really liked.

This one I didn't hate. It didn't resolve the love triangle as I'd have liked, but only about two have. It was at least a great improvement on the film's destructively unbridled passion. Characters brought sense as much as emotion to bear - sometimes preachingly so, the author's opinions on love, marriage, the weight of conventions and the liberalisation of society all made very clear.

It's a lot more psychological and complex than the film. (Of course a film is limited in what it can achieve in these respects.) It had a tendency to wallow in Alice's head (leavened primarily by David paternalistically tutoring her in how to be more sensible). But we also see the issue from various angles when her daughter grows to face (with her own very different worldview) a similar situation. The mother-daughter relationship is as central to the novel as the romantic ones; this alone is worth the read.… (més)