Join us

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Newsletter

Jane Gardam

The Flight of the Maidens

Cover: The Flight of the Maidens - Jane Gardam

Jane Gardam

The Flight of the Maidens

2017, pp. 336, Paperback
ISBN: 9781609454050
Region: Britain
Available as ebook Available as ebook Available as ebook
$ 17.00
Sample chapter Sample chapter Sample chapter

The book

Jane Gardam, author of the Old Filth Trilogy, delivers another modern classic in The Flight of the Maidens. With her characteristic wit, Gardam captures a moment in time for three young women on the cusp of adulthood. With keen perception the novel charts the course of this trio as they boldly face their uncertain futures.

It is Yorkshire, 1946. The end of the war has changed the world again, and emboldened by this new dawning Hetty Fallows, Una Vane, and Lisolette Klein seize the opportunities with enthusiasm. Hetty, desperate to escape the grasp of her critical mother, books a solo holiday to the Lake District under the pretext of completing her Oxford summer coursework. Una, the daughter of a disconcertingly cheery hairdresser, entertains a romantically inclined young man from the wrong side of the tracks and the left-side of politics. Meanwhile, Lisolette Klein, the mysterious Jewish refugee from Germany, leaves the Quaker family who had rescued her, to test herself in London. Although strikingly different from one another, these young women share the common goal of adventure and release from their middle class surroundings through romance and education.

Gardam demonstrates her talent for creating fully realized characters in these venturesome, intelligent young women whose stories are told with delight and understanding. This reissue of The Flight of the Maidens will appeal to a wide range of adult and young adult readers.

The author

Jane Gardam
Jane Gardam was the only author to have twice been awarded Britain’s prestigious Costa Award. She was the winner of the David Higham Prize, the Royal Society for Literature’s Winifred Holtby Prize, the Katherine Mansfield Prize, and the Silver Pen Award from PEN. Her novel The Man in the Wooden Hat was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times book award, and her novel Last Friends was a finalist for the Folio Award.

Press

From the same country

  • Cover: The Land in Winter - Andrew Miller

    Andrew Miller

    The Land in Winter

    2025, pp. 384, $ 27.00
    Winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, The Land in Winter is a deft, page-turning examination of married life and a masterclass...
  • Cover: Amanda - H. S. Cross

    H. S. Cross

    Amanda

    2025, pp. 336, $ 26.00
    Love is the only lifeline.
  • Cover: Vulture - Phoebe Greenwood

    Phoebe Greenwood

    Vulture

    2025, pp. 288, $ 27.00
    Catch-22 on speed and set in the Middle East, Vulture is a fast-paced, brilliant satire of the war news industry and its moral...
  • Cover: The Proof of My Innocence - Jonathan Coe

    Jonathan Coe

    The Proof of My Innocence

    2025, pp. 400, $ 18.00
    A blisteringly funny political critique wrapped up in a murder mystery, from one of Britain’s most beloved novelists
  • Cover: Fifteen Wild Decembers - Karen Powell

    Karen Powell

    Fifteen Wild Decembers

    2025, pp. 288, $ 18.00
    Fifteen Wild Decembers is the dazzling second novel from a writer who has been compared to Shirley Hazzard and Graham Greene, and whose first...
  • Cover: My Father’s House - Joseph O’Connor

    Joseph O’Connor

    My Father’s House

    2024, pp. 368, $ 18.95
    From the acclaimed, bestselling author of Star of the Sea and winner of the 2021 Irish Book Awards Book of the Year for Shadowplay, comes...

More suggestions

  • Cover: Madelaine Before the Dawn - Sandrine Collette

    Sandrine Collette

    Madelaine Before the Dawn

    2026, pp. 176, $ 18.00
    A Masterful New Novel by Sandrine Collette, One of France’s Most Daring and Acclaimed Writers.
  • Cover: A Mask the Color of the Sky - Bassem Khandaqji

    Bassem Khandaqji

    A Mask the Color of the Sky

    2026, pp. 224, $ 19.00
    A bold, psychologically rich novel of identity, exile, and resistance from one of Palestine’s most vital literary voices—written entirely from...
  • Cover: Ashland - Dan Simon

    Dan Simon

    Ashland

    2026, pp. 208, $ 26.00
    A deeply moving family story unfolding in richly evocative prose and a poetic portrayal of a town in decline during the final decades of the American...
  • Cover: Floodlines - Saleem Haddad

    Saleem Haddad

    Floodlines

    2026, pp. 336, $ 19.00
    A sweeping, multigenerational novel of art, exile, memory, and the enduring legacies of war—set between London and Baghdad in the shadow of the...
  • Cover: Tangerinn - Emanuela Anechoum

    Emanuela Anechoum

    Tangerinn

    2026, pp. 256, $ 19.00
    Winner of the Città di Lugnano Debut Novel Prize and a finalist for the Bancarella and Rapallo BPER Bank Prize
  • Cover: The Burning Origin - Daniele Mencarelli

    Daniele Mencarelli

    The Burning Origin

    2025, pp. 192, $ 18.00
    A searing story about homecoming and belonging set in contemporary Rome 

Join Our Newsletter and receive a FREE eBook!

Stay updated on Europa’s forthcoming releases, author tours and major news.

Are you a bookseller? Click here!

Are you a librarian? Click here!

X