Carol Houston

Four Women in Need Carol Houston

"Four Women in Need could best be described as a ?literary novel?. The novel is set predominately in the North of England in the middle of the twentieth century. The women, previously unknown to each other, are from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, but are brought together when their lives spiral out of control. They become voluntary residents at The Haven a sanctuary for women, who for one reason or another are no longer able to function in their regular roles in society.

The early chapters of the book explore the lives of Avril, Katie, Susan and Justine prior to their breakdowns. Avril and her husband Terry, originally from working class families, have enjoyed a meteoric rise to wealth which dissipates just as suddenly when Terry is arrested on charges of fraud. Terry is subsequently found guilty and sentenced to ten years imprisonment in Walton prison. Gone is the lavish life-style to which Avril had become accustomed; of greater loss however is the fact that their son Adrian has to leave his prestigious boys boarding school in the South of England.

Katie is a young happily married veterinary assistant. Apart from her somewhat interfering mother-in law Katie?s life is idyllic. One weekend whilst Katie?s husband Steve, an airline pilot with British Airways, is supposedly flying Katie discovers simultaneously that she is pregnant and that Steve has been cheating on her. Katie loses the baby and makes an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

Susan is well on her way to becoming an eminent university academic. Whilst presenting a history paper at a university conference the content of her talk is challenged by someone in the audience. Susan is accused and subsequently found guilty of plagiarism. Her expulsion from the academic circle of the university is both brutal and swift. She retreats from all of her colleagues, even from Philip with whom she was becoming romatically involved.

Justine the final main player in the novel is a high achieving young doctor who has recently been given a position on the anaesthetic trainee programme. During an operation a male patient arrests and is unable to be revived. Justine, who seemingly had everything in abundance; brains and beauty cannot function. The surgeons and the anaesthetic staff are completed exonerated from any blame but that does not seem to be enough for Justine. Her previous ambitious obsession with her career now appears to be of no concern.

Reluctantly and with a great many misgivings the four women make their way to The Haven. Once in rehabilitation Avril, Katie, Susan and Justine slowly begin to realize that what has happened to them has happened to so many other women. Through support and empathy for each other and the other women at The Haven the four protagonists of Four Women in Need begin their struggle back to and a desire for a resumption of their lives, albeit in a somewhat different formula than previously.

I believe the reader becomes involved with the characters in the novel partly because it is a story grounded in the tenable reality of the stresses of life which many women are faced with.

The novel offers no ?fast fix? or ?fairy tale? endings for the four women but the book does strive to depict the way in which women can rise from adversity and resume a semblance of their former lives, sometimes even for the better. What becomes increasingly obvious in the novel is the way in which women are able to turn their lives around and even whilst in the process of doing this are able to offer the hand of friendship and sisterhood to other women in need.
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