Girl from the South

by Joanna Trollope

Overview

When Gillon comes back to her native Charleston, she has a young Englishman in tow. He has accompanied her on a lark, planning to take pictures. But he soon falls in love with the sights of South Carolina, with Gillon's family-and perhaps, with Gillon herself...From the acclaimed author of Marrying the Mistress, this is an unforgettable novel about feeling like a fish out of water-and finding those with whom we can breathe more easily.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425193501
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/01/2003
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	543,799
Product dimensions:	5.23(w) x 7.94(h) x 0.98(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Joanna Trollope has been writing for more than 30 years. Her enormously successful contemporary works of fiction, several of which have been televised, include Other People's Children, Marrying the Mistress, Girl from the South, Brother & Sister, Second Honeymoon, and Friday Nights. She was awarded the OBE in 1996 for services to literature.

Read an Excerpt

The first novel set in America by the national bestselling author of Next of Kin and A Passionate Man.

Joanna Trollope, a descendant of Anthony Trollope and a #1 bestselling author in England, is most recently the author of A Spanish Lover and A Passionate Man. Her novels The Choir and The Rector's Wife were both adapted for Masterpiece Theatre.

Q> This novel is about "being yourself" as much as "finding yourself." What does Gillon discover about herself during her stay in London? How does it change her?

Q> In a way, when Gillon's life intersects with Henry's and Tilly's, she liberates both of them, though this is not immediately obvious. Discuss how this plays out.

Q> Gillon thinks she needs to be free of her family and Henry longs to have one. Despite their very different backgrounds, though, Henry and Gillon are both struggling with the same issues of self-discovery. How do they help each other?

Q> Ashley's post-partum depression reveals to her that aspects of her life have been oppressive and constraining. Why is childbirth cathartic? What role does Henry play in igniting her dissatisfaction?

Q> Sarah's conservative etiquette and absolute conformity are treated as the family standard. Discuss the burden this must have placed on Martha. Is her emotional distance a result of Sarah's very proper tutelage?

Q> In the end, one could feel that Sarah was the family member least true to herself--yet her example has shaped her entire family. What does this teach us about individuality and self-confidence?

Q> Both Gillon and Henry betray someone they love. Do you think the circumstances justify it? Explain.

Q>The good news in Girl from the South is that it's never too late: In revealing the temptation of her youth, even Sarah discovers her true self. Do you think that Boone and Martha have a real chance to break free of the roles they've slipped into, so that their relationship can be authentic?

Q> Do you think that Margot created a void in Tilly, a lack of selflove, by putting her own happiness first? How did this manifest itself in Tilly's life and how did it backfire in Margot's?

Q> Family is obviously a central theme in Girl from the South. How does Gillon's role in her family change? How does she wind up setting an enormous example for everyone else?

Table of Contents

	Charleston, South Carolina, Late Spring	1
13
219
	London, Summer	39
341
455
570
688
7104
	Charleston, South Carolina, Fall	123
8125
9140
10157
11175
12192
	London, Winter	211
13213
14228
15246
16260
17277
	Charleston, South Carolina, Late Spring	295
18297
19315
20331

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"An elegant novel set in America." -O Magazine

"Entertaining." -Washington Post

"Wonderful."-The New Orleans Times-Picayune

Reading Group Guide

INTRODUCTION

When it comes to penetrating and portraying the timeless complexities and dilemmas of everyday life, Joanna Trollope has no equal. In Girl from the South she displays her signature nuance, style, and warmth in a story of the boundaries between men and women, England and America, and what happens when we test the limits of family, friendship, and love.

Gillon Stokes is a girl from the South, but with her lack of convention and her disregard for makeup and the traditions of Southern femininity, she defies stereotype. When Gillon flees Charleston for a summer stint in London, she is befriended by the assured yet insecure Tilly. But when it's time for Gillon to return home, Tilly's boyfriend, Henry, follows her. A photographer, he falls in love with the wildlife of the South Carolina marshes, the Stokes family, and the entire South. And it is through his loving lens that everything is seen afresh and transformed.

Trollope's elegantly provocative novels have made her a bestselling favorite on both sides of the Atlantic. With this intercontinental new novel, tried-and-true fans and new readers alike will delight in Trollope's voyage to America.

 

ABOUT JOANNA TROLLOPE

Joanna Trollope, a descendant of Anthony Trollope and a #1 bestselling author in England, is most recently the author of A Spanish Lover and A Passionate Man. Her novels The Choir and The Rector's Wife were both adapted for Masterpiece Theatre. She lives in Gloucestershire, England.

Praise

"[Joanna Trollope's] books are...like coming home."—USA Today

"A masterful storyteller."—San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle

"A modern-day Austen."—Library Journal

"A wonderful story of family traditions in conflict, of new beginnings,of the way whole families can fall in love with a person."—New Orleans Times-Picayune

"An elegant read."—O Magazine

 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• This novel is about "being yourself" as much as "finding yourself." What does Gillon discover about herself during her stay in London? How does it change her?
   
• In a way, when Gillon's life intersects with Henry's and Tilly's, she liberates both of them, though this is not immediately obvious. Discuss how this plays out.
   
• Gillon thinks she needs to be free of her family and Henry longs to have one. Despite their very different backgrounds, though, Henry and Gillon are both struggling with the same issues of self-discovery. How do they help each other?
   
• Ashley's post-partum depression reveals to her that aspects of her life have been oppressive and constraining. Why is childbirth cathartic? What role does Henry play in igniting her dissatisfaction?
   
• Sarah's conservative etiquette and absolute conformity are treated as the family standard. Discuss the burden this must have placed on Martha. Is her emotional distance a result of Sarah's very proper tutelage?
   
• In the end, one could feel that Sarah was the family member least true to herself—yet her example has shaped her entire family. What does this teach us about individuality and self-confidence?
   
• Both Gillon and Henry betray someone they love. Do you think the circumstances justify it? Explain.
   
• The good news in Girl from the South is that it's never too late: In revealing the temptation of her youth, even Sarah discovers her true self. Do you think that Boone and Martha have a real chance to break free of the roles they've slipped into, so that their relationship can be authentic?
   
• Do you think that Margot created a void in Tilly, a lack of selflove, by putting her own happiness first? How did this manifest itself in Tilly's life and how did it backfire in Margot's?
   
• Family is obviously a central theme in Girl from the South. How does Gillon's role in her family change? How does she wind up setting an enormous example for everyone else?

Editorial Reviews

"An elegant novel set in America." -O  Magazine

"Entertaining." -Washington Post

"Wonderful."-The New Orleans Times-Picayune

From the Publisher

At the center of this charming novel from bestselling British author Trollope is Henry Atkins, a London-based wildlife photographer who has lost interest in both the gray English landscape and his near-perfect girlfriend. When Henry meets Gillon Stokes, an unconventional girl from South Carolina working as an intern in London, she off-handedly invites him to visit her and her family in the U.S. Much to everyone's dismay, Henry follows Gillon to Charleston, where he falls in love with the low country wetlands, the antebellum architecture and Gillon's tight-knit family. As the Stokeses adopt Henry into their world, each member is forced to reassess the way he or she has been living. Though filled with gorgeous descriptions of tidal marshes, graceful houses and the gardens of Charleston's historic district, this novel is most satisfying when Trollope penetrates the surface of this hospitable yet closed society.

Susan Tekulve

An admired English author of wryly intelligent family dramas, Trollope has never enjoyed a particularly wide American readership. This very likable novel, which features a protagonist from South Carolina involved with an English visitor, might change that. It even offers the notion that American family traditions, particularly Southern ones, offer a stability that contemporary English relationships often lack. Gillon Stokes is the odd girl out in her tradition-bound Charleston family, and when she goes to London on a typically whimsical impulse to pursue art research, she catches the eye of nature photographer Henry. When she casually invites him back home for a visit, Henry is charmed by the same folkways that Gillon finds so stifling, and he soon becomes so much part of her family that he begins turning their sense of themselves and each other upside down. Back in London, Henry's girlfriend, Tilly, is having problems keeping his friend William at bay, and discovers that she cares more than she expected she would about Henry's defection. The contrast between the casual, rootless Londoners and the rather rigid, assured Southerners is deliciously pointed, and Trollope (The Best of Friends, etc.) offers two splendid scenes of very different mothers and daughters coming to terms with their dissimilarities. This is subtle, delicate entertainment that skillfully avoids romantic clich while offering a group of believably quirky characters learning to adjust to new maturity. National advertising. (June 4) Forecast: The book's quality and American settings could finally bring Trollope the U.S. readership she deserves. It's an ideal title for reading clubs and sales will be bolstered by a 10-city author tour. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Would that Trollope had stayed on her side of the pond. Instead, the prolific, popular English novelist (Marrying the Mistress) ricochets back and forth from Charleston, SC, to England, chronicling the relationships of several intertwined young people. The "girl from the South" is Gillon Stokes, who is in London working on an art exhibition catalog and trying to escape the constricted life her Southern upbringing imposes. Mind you, her mother, a psychiatrist in Charleston, doesn't quite fit the mold either. While in London, Gillon meets Henry Atkins, a discontented wildlife photographer on the brink of breaking up with his girlfriend. Shortly after Gillon returns to the South, Henry comes, too, is taken up by her family, and finds his true home, and love, there. More Maeve Binchy than Trollope, this rather mundane, predictable novel seems to be saying that "love isn't the answer." For those who expect the counterintuitively sympathetic characters of Trollope's previous novels and the unexpected denouements, this will be a disappointment. Fans will clamor for it, though. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/02.] Francine Fialkoff, "Library Journal" Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

The prolific Trollope (Next of Kin, 2001, etc.) spins another engaging tale about life‘s twists and turns, occasioned as much by character as circumstance, and the ways family ties both help and hinder. Since college, art historian Gillon Stokes has alternately fled and returned to Charleston, South Carolina, drawn by love for her relatives but finding them constraining once she's actually there. When she learns that sister Ashley is pregnant, Gillon decides to leave Charleston again and accept a temporary art conservation job in London so she can avoid perfect Ashley's sure-to-be-perfect pregnancy. Meanwhile in London, photographer Henry Atkins, in a professional rut, feels ambivalent about live-in girlfriend Tilly's assertion that it's time for a commitment. After Gillon moves into a spare room in the apartment he and journalist Tilly share, he's only too happy to accept her casual invitation to visit her family in Charleston. The Stokeses are Old Charleston, with all the privileges and baggage that position entails, and Henry falls in love with the family, the city, and Gillon. Back for Ashley's delivery, Gillon is troubled by his uncritical acceptance of her kin and her own betrayal of Tilly, who treated her kindly. While our American heroine learns more about her inability ever to leave home completely ("There's nowhere else that I feel so vulnerable. And because of that, so alive"), English Tilly also examines her life. Realizing that Henry's not coming back, she becomes closer to her divorced mother, appreciating the matter-of -fact-comfort that Margot offers. The author deftly sketches her characters' situations with her usual hardheaded but empathetic understanding of the way theworld works for men and women. Vintage Trollope, fluidly and accessibly written as always, now with an American twist.

Kirkus Reviews