This delightful novel describes the post-war summer of 1946
- & follows the growing-up of three young women in the months between leaving school & taking up their scholarships at university Una Vane whose widowed mother runs a hairdressing salon in her front room (' Maison Vane Glory
- Where Permanent Waves are Permanent') goes bicycling with Ray the boy who delivers the fish & milk Hetty Fallowes struggles to become independent of her possessive loving tactless mother & Lieselotte Klein who had arrived in 1939 on a train from Hamburg uncovers tragedy in the past & magic in the present Rooted in the north of England THE FLIGHT OF THE MAIDENS is peopled with extraordinary characters who are evoked with all the humour compassion & eye for detail that mark Jane Gardam as one of Britain's most gifted & original novelists