Cousin Rosamund — Rebecca West

Two young women come of age in a novel "unbelievably rich in character, incident, and observation." -- The Boston Globe
 
Their childhood and adolescence were overshadowed by the Great War. Now, in its lonely aftermath, Rose and Mary Aubrey find themselves deprived of the guiding strength of their cousin Rosamund when she marries a man of dubious morals and intolerable vulgarity. Retreating to an inn on the Thames, they find a haven of security with old friends.
 
Into this fragile Eden a new, disruptive force is introduced; Rose discovers the power of love, and, confronting her own sexuality, learns to delight in it. With extraordinary fierceness and candor, Rebecca West has written a portrait of sexual awakening, one that allows her characters an uncanny glimpse of our own age.
 
"Comes as close as we are ever likely to get to a self-portrait of the extraordinary woman who created her." -- Sunday Observer (London)
 
"The author's searching, stinging, imaginative intelligence encompasses art and love and justice and simple humanness." -- Kirkus Reviews