A Woman's Place — Susanne O'Leary

This is the story of two women, mother and daughter, based on true events.

In 1899, Julia, at the age of twenty, travels on her own to New York in hot pursuit of the man whose child she carries. Living life with passionate intensity, across the social realm, Julia struggles to survive in turbulent times.

Her daughter Sonja, born of that first tempestuous union but brought up in Finland by a stepfather when Julia remarries, has the same spirit and courage as her mother. Her wanderlust takes her to Paris and then on to New York, where, for a short time, she leads a ‘Great Gatsby'- life in the aftermath of the Wall street crash.

The backdrop of the Great Depression and its impact on society then, provides an interesting parallel to the present times.


Set in Stockholm, Helsinki, Monte Carlo, Paris and New York from 1899 through to the 1930's, this is a story with a true eye-witness feel.

A large part of the narrative is provided by the texts of the letters actually exchanged between the main characters.

Author's note: This story is based on family letters, postcards and diaries written by my great-aunt Julia and her daughter Sonja. You can see photos of the real women behind the story on my website: http://www.susanne-oleary.com

I am at the moment writing a sequel, as so many readers wanted to know what happened to Sonja.

I would like to add that the English I use is British, ie 'colour' rather than 'color' and so on. The spellchecker in my computer is set to British too and the usage of words and phrasings might be different to US ways (which in English English is correct, rather than the US 'different from'). This might appear as 'wrong' spelling and grammatical errors at times to American readers

I always stick to British English because that's what I was brought up with and, as the books are also read in the UK and other European countries, I feel this is right for me and my readers.

New, corrected version uploaded February 15, 2012