After Leaving Mr. MacKenzie.

From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen

Julia Martin wants more than the usual woman's lot, but the only thing she knows how to do is please men. When she was young, it was easy to find glamour and adventure in affairs with respectable married men. Always willing to be cunning enough to start an affair with the kind of man she could wangle a living out of, she was never willing - or able - to make all the compromises necessary to keep an affair going. Now living in a dingy hotel, alienated by her past from family and friends, she faces a lonely and wanting middle-age. Her affair with Mr. McKenzie is over, the last in a string of affairs with men whose respect she cannot earn and whose money she desperately needs; there are no likely new prospects. The last time Julia meets Mr. McKenzie, she is angrily proud: "'Oh, yes, look here, this check... This check I got today. I don't want it.' 'Good,' said Mr. McKenzie. 'Just as you like, of course.' She picked up her glove and hit his cheek with it. 'I despise you,' she said. 'Quite,' said Mr. McKenzie." After Leaving Mr. McKenzie is an intense and penetrating picture of the sinking of a woman who only wanted to live a little. Rebecca West called it "Terrible and superb." Which indeed, it is. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. --This text refers to the

Paperback edition.