Torontonians

The arrival, one sunny morning, of pale green wall-to-wall carpeting for the living room is the crowning jewel in Karen Whitney's long-anticipated transformation of her house into a beautiful home, renovated to the exacting standards of her own impeccable taste. The banal finality of this event triggers an introspective voyage through the events of her life and how she became who she is: wife of business executive Rick, citizen of the suburb of Rowanwood, mother to two accomplished daughters in university.Before Betty Friedan coined the term feminine mystique, "The Torontonians" told a classic feminist story of suburban ennui and existential self-discovery, tracing a detailed portrait of femininity in the 1950s through the eyes of its perceptive and thoughtful heroine. The book is also a unique contemporary meditation on community and social ties from a time when Canada's major cities were just beginning to spread out into suburban sprawl. Rich in evocative detail about consumer culture, domesticity, and suburban life in postwar "Toronto the Good," Phyllis Brett Young's novel foreshadows questions raised by second wave feminism. "The Torontonians" is a powerful story about an educated, upper middle-class woman whose leisured life provides her with all the material comfort she could want but none of the emotional fulfilment she needs.