Sexual Revolution

By opening this collection of stories with a frank depiction of the quest for an abortion, Maeve Binchy signals that the volume will not skirt controversy. Only a handful of the stories lacks at least a sexual sub theme. "Shepherd's Bush" shows an Irish woman, May, pregnant by her very-married boss and having to leave Ireland for a legal abortion. This appears to be common practice among Irish women. Women having affairs with hopelessly married men who will not leave their wives and children is a common theme throughout the volume. Moralism is avoided, but the question of the father's rights is discussed—and dismissed by May.

"Holland Park" follows. It deals with stereotypes of homosexuality that lead upper class people to assume that the narrator and friend Alice are gay. The friends try to be sophisticated and supportive, while the narrator, at first repulsed by...