Whipple

I enjoy Dorothy Whipple's books very much. she has been compared to Jane Austen because of her sharp observation and quiet realism. Most of her books are set in the North of England, among middle class people. Her first book, YOung Anne is about a girl from a middle class family, who has to wait for War to free her from the restrictions of being a young lady. She is able to work and earn her own money. Another early novel is High Wages, which is about a girl who goes to work as a shop assistant and ends up managing her own business. She also becomes a friend and advisor to other women who are in need of help. In one of her final novels, Someone at a Distance, Ellen the main female character gets a job at 43, as a manager to a small hotel for elderly ladies. She has never had a paid job, but she is hard working and wishes to be independent of her husband when they get divorced. In Because of the Lockwoods one of her other late novels, Thea the heroine and Molly, her sister both get jobs, and are the better for having work to do, and earning their own money. Molly runs a cake shop and Thea works as a secretary to Oliver their neighbour, a self made man, who has a business. Whipple admires women who work whether it is being a good housewife or having a paid job.