I enjoyed this book and found it even easier to read than The Virgin Blue. There is a pleasant flow to the writing both in the language style and the plotting.
The ending was relatively happy which was pleasant. However having read two Chevalier books in a couple of months I have found them to be quite disturbing. Both books portray a world where women, especially the main characters, have no security or stability.It is not a question of the hard work or even the cruelty that these women face rather the petty backbiting, the feeling that their every breath is judged and there is no one in whom they can confide and on whom they can rely.