The mirror

Move over, Moll Flanders. Make room for Agnes La Grange, the cunning, ambitious, sexually liberated heroine of Lynn Freed's third novel. In 1920, Agnes, a lower-class English woman, is 17. She emigrates to Durban, South Africa, to work as a housekeeper in the home of the "old Jew," who presents her with a mirror. Completely unsurprised by his sexual advances, she watches their reflections in the mirror and falls in love with the power of her beauty. Without remorse, Agnes capitalizes on her beauty, rising from housekeeper to hotel owner. Even pregnancy fails to deter her ambition. Along the way, she acquires more property, a husband, several lovers, a subsequent divorce, and the trappings of refinement. In Agnes, Freed gives us a refreshingly candid portrait. Although not entirely likable, Agnes is ruthlessly honest about the hypocrisy of social norms. The reader eagerly follows her development from young to old woman in this rich creation of both character and period.