Her Living Image — Jane Rogers

A novel that delves into “the psychology behind the choice between career and homemaker faced by so many women. Delicately written and highly recommended” (Library Journal).
 
What happens when your husband falls in love with the woman you might have become?
 
Eighteen-year-old Carolyn Tanner lies in a hospital bed. Recovering from an accident, she imagines herself returning to her parents' home, marrying her childhood sweetheart, and becoming a mother. Instead, she joins a women's cooperative and becomes a landscape architect. But as her dream and her real life entangle, she must search to find her true self.
 
“A splendid and sustained fable for our time.” -- Marge Piercy, author of Gone to Soldiers
 
“Infinitely subtle delights . . . Her Living Image appeals through its author's gimlet eye for details and the charity with which she dissects her women's lives and choices.” -- Time Out
 
“Jane Rogers often writes beautifully in her second novel, which consists of two alternate versions of the same character's story . . . There are some delicately lovely passages, especially when Ms. Rogers uses imagery from nature.” -- The New York Times
 
“A skillful, intelligent, technically ambitious novel (first published in England, and winner there of the Somerset Maugham Award) about a young woman who creates a fantasy persona that takes on a life of its own . . . All in all, superb writing that is almost never overwhelmed by the underlying political message. No easy feat.” -- Kirkus Reviews