Her entry begins:
I recently read a number of English books about Oxford so I could bone up on my Anglicisms when writing my own English section of Coming Ashore.About Coming Ashore, from the publisher:
A Dance to the Music of Time is a 12 volume set of novels by Anthony Powell. It is one of the longest collections in the English language. It was published between 1951 and 1975 and describes the life of Nick Jenkins. It also details upper class life from pre World War 1 to the hippie era in the late 60s. It is really about how wealth changed hands in England after the turn of the century and many aristocrats who were flush at the beginning of the book...[read on]
Picking up her story in the late ’60s at age 21, Cathy Gildiner whisks the reader through five years and three countries, beginning when she is a poetry student at Oxford. Her education extended beyond the classroom to London’s swinging Carnaby Street, the mountains of Wales, and a posh country estate.Visit Catherine Gildiner's website and blog.
After Oxford, Cathy returns to Cleveland, Ohio, which was still reeling from the Hough Ghetto Riots. Not one to shyaway from a challenge, she teaches at a high school where police escort teachers through the parking lot. There, she tries to engage apathetic students and tussles with the education authorities.
In 1970, Cathy moves to Canada. While studying literature at the University of Toronto, she rooms with members of the FLQ (Quebec separatists) and then with one of the biggest drug dealers in Canada. Along the way, she falls in love with the man who eventually became her husband and embarks on a new career in psychology.
Coming Ashore brings readers back to a fascinating era populated by lively characters, but most memorable of all is the singular Cathy McClure.
The Page 99 Test: After the Falls.
My Book, The Movie: Coming Ashore.
Writers Read: Catherine Gildiner.
--Marshal Zeringue
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