This novel is mainly about culture differences and expectations, set in both London (UK) and Charleston (USA). There are really four main characters, but the title refers to Gillon, a girl raised in the old-fashioned American South, by an elegant grandmother and hard-working mother, who feels that she doesn't fit in. She takes a job in London in the hope of escaping from a claustrophobic family, only to find that they do matter to her more than she realised.
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The story of a young American, battling a stifling upbringing in Charleston (USA - the South of the title), her move to London and how this is the catalyst for change in the lives of the Londoners she befriends. A little too sprawling and unresolved to be Trollopes best work - I know life is like that but we do look to fiction for resolution! ( )

Joanna Trollope s'intéresse cette fois-ci à une jeune femme américaine, du sud des Etats Unis, qui s'installe en Angleterre pour s'accorder une bouffée d'air. Ce qui est particulier avec Joanna Trollope est que l'on enchaine ses livres pour la retrouver, elle, plutôt que ses héros ou ses histoires. Quelque chose de très humain.