"Roses, Rhodendron," By Alice Adams

In Alice Adam's "Roses, Rhododendrons" her habit of great detail and the plight of independent women in her writings are on display.  Her main character is Jane, a teenage girl who recently moved with her mother Margot.  Margot is recently separated from her husband and is trying to make it as an antiques dealer.  Her husband's actions make Margot question a Ouija board, trying to see the future of their marriage.  He has taken on another lover, but her hope is that they will reconcile.  Margot lives in the past and this broken home leads her daughter into befriending a young girl Harriet and her seemingly normal parents Lawrence and Emily Farr.  Jane holds the Farrs in great esteem, even after witnessing a nasty fight that occurs one night while she is visiting.  Margot is jealous of Jane's new friends and she displays this by spreading rumors to her daughter.  One of the rumors is about Mr. Farr having a relationship outside of his marriage, the effect this had on his wife may be shown by the way she cares about her personal appearance, she cuts her own hair, doesn't dye it, and wears unflattering clothes.  Mrs. Farr years later does leave her husband, perhaps she just stayed for the benefit of Harriet.  Jane and her mother move away from the Farr's, Jane subconsciously copies some of Harriet's personality traits, which I find interesting because I found myself doing that as an adolescent, when I saw a trait I admired from someone, a trait that I did not possess, I would try to mimic it until it came naturally to me and was my own.  Alice Adams herself was divorced and she did not become published until in her fifties so I can see a lot of similarities with her characters, especially Mrs. Farr.