Based on Jolley's life, the <em>Trilogy</em> begins in England during WWII and follows Vera Wright as she leaves her cultivated, middle-class family behind and, through a series of unorthodox passionate affairs, eventually emigrates to Australia. Along the way, she has two children out of wedlock, falls in love with the male half of a variety of couples--married, sister-brother, and seedy bohemian (one of ambiguous sexuality)--and yearns for the love of various women, finally having a lesbian affair aboard the ship that is taking her--now married and a doctor by profession--to Australia. The book is a modernist work, written in the first person, multi-layered and, though essentially linear, is interrupted by recurring passages of memory much like musical refrains. Highly personal, giving insight into the workings of the passions and the unlikely bonds people form, it also creates a vivid portrait of how life was lived (particularly by women) in England from the 1930s through the 1950s, from the Depression through wartime and beyond. Jolley's prose is simple and evocative. She writes beautifully about nature, love, sexuality, loneliness, and the constraints imposed by society, whether by war or morality. While each individual volume has great merit--not until now, when they are gathered together, can we appreciate the power of this compelling, complex, and haunting work. <br />