The Distaff Side

by Elizabeth Palmer and Jennifer Coburn

When Bertie, a browbeaten son of Britain's upper crust, wants to marry Mai, the feminist who lives in the mansion down the road, his mother, Augusta, the ultra-snobby Langham matriarch, opposes their union. Tides turn, however, with the introduction of Zhenia Dashkova, the mysterious Russian princess in possession of the Dashkov family emeralds. Beautiful and charming, Zhenia catches the Langhams' eyes at once. But what they don't know can hurt them...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312325398
• ISBN13: 9780312325398
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Compelling if a bit rushed

This compelling novel feels like an outline for a much longer and detailed book. It's short and sweet, but sometimes the rush through the years felt hurried. I loved the characters of Juno and Jacob and would enjoy reading further books involving them and their unusual/usual marriage. Unfortunately Mai is a bit dumb and that leads to a frustrating lack of empathy for her. Zhenia is a strong character, but only in the last few pages do we get a view of her inner mind and start to understand her motivations. I feel a bit let down now that I've finished it. It was like meeting fabulously interesting people, but only for a weekend, when you would have liked to spend much more time with them.

an excellent read in spite of the faulty editing

In 1917, young Bertie Langham is all set to marry his longtime friend, the beautiful, rich and very eligible Mai Binnington, when his controlling mother, Augusta, discovers that Mai is (gasp) a suffragette. Forcing Bertie to take a stand -- i.e. that he demand Mai give up her association with the suffragettes, the Langham-Binnington alliance soon unravels, leaving Mai and Bertie to find other marital partners. Mai, soon finds herself engaged to another friend from childhood, Ned Fielding; while Bertie, at his mother's prodding finds himself being captivated by the mysterious Princess Zhenia Dashkov. What follows is a highly sympathetic yet satirical look at life amongst the British upper class as Mai and Bertie try to navigate matrimonial waters with partners who are a lot more than their placid facades imply they are... It's true, that because so much happens within the 280 odd pages, and because the book covers a time period where so much happened, you'd expect a much thicker book, with a lot more drama. However, I found myself enjoying Elizabeth Palmer's understated book and her spare prose style immensely. Without resorting to over the top melodrama or descriptions, she was still able to vividly paint a scene, convey an impression and make her characters come alive and be easily recognizable. This is no mean feat, and it definitely made reading "The Distaff Side" a pleasure. On the other hand, it was also true that the editing job was not well done, and I do hope that the author took her publishers to task about this. On the whole though, this was a very enjoyable and absorbing read: the writing was superb and the characters, whether you liked them (Mai) or really disliked them (Augusta), were fully realised and not caricatures. In fact I could imagine a very tasteful Masterpiece Theatre production based on "The Distaff Side" as I was reading this clever novel. An excellent read, esp if you enjoy books with women as central figures.