Olivia Curtis

Rosamond Lehmann's enduring classic, told from the point of view of its seventeen-year-old heroine, who has been invited to her first dance   Today is Olivia Curtis's seventeenth birthday. In exactly one week, she will attend her first dance. She is thrilled . . . and terrified. Will Tony Heriot ask her to dance? Will he even remember that they once attended the same costume party? What will she wear? Something bright and beautiful-red silk? In the handsome diary she receives as a gift, Olivia shares her innermost doubts and fears-about her pretty, confident older sister, Kate, her precocious baby brother, James, her eccentric country neighbors, and of course, the upcoming party, which she is sure will be the crowning event of her young life.   Divided into three parts-Olivia's birthday, the day leading up to the party, and the breathtaking event itself-Invitation to the Waltz masterfully captures the conflicting emotions of a teenager on the threshold of womanhood. Will this be the night when all of Olivia's dreams come true?

A chance encounter on a train plunges a woman into an illicit love affair that will change her life forever Ten years after Olivia Curtis attends her first dance-one of the defining moments of her life, as depicted in the classic Invitation to the Waltz-she is divorced and living with her cousin in London. When she gets a call notifying her that her father is gravely ill, she makes preparations to return home to Tulverton, in the English countryside. On the train, she meets Rollo Spencer, her girlhood crush. The older brother of a debutante friend, he and Olivia once shared a fleeting, magical moment on a moonlit terrace that she has never forgotten. Now fate has thrown them together again. They fall in love, and in spite of the fact that Rollo is married, embark on a clandestine affair.   Shockingly ahead of its time, The Weather in the Streets charts the tempestuous course of Olivia and Rollo's forbidden relationship, from the first throes of passion through the toll of their deception on Olivia as she confronts the harsh reality of being the other woman. Lehmann's fearless exploration of friendship, family, aging, and mortality-and the then-taboo subjects of homosexuality, abortion, and drugs-assures her novel's place in the pantheon of twentieth-century classics.

Ten years separate these two poignant novels featuring the same young woman. Invitation to the Waltz: Seventeen-year-old Olivia Curtis has been invited to her first dance. She is thrilled and terrified. In her diary, she confides her hopes, doubts, and fears-about her pretty, confident older sister, Kate; her precocious baby brother, James; her eccentric country neighbors; and of course, the upcoming party, which she is sure will be the crowning event of her life. Divided into three parts-Olivia's birthday, the day leading up to the dance, and the event itself-Invitation to the Waltz beautifully captures the conflicting emotions of a teenager on the threshold of womanhood. The Weather in the Streets: Ten years older with a failed marriage behind her, Olivia runs into Rollo Spencer, her girlhood crush from the ball, on a train, and is swept up in a heated but clandestine affair, since Rollo is married. Lehmann's novel charts the tempestuous course of Olivia and Rollo's forbidden relationship, from the first throes of passion through the toll of their deception on Olivia as she confronts the harsh reality of being the other woman.