For the first offering competently weaves scads of historical detail into her tale of Carol Simon`s journey from childhood ease in the 1920s to a hard-won position as wife, mother and career woman in the 1970s Despite her father`s suicide during the Depression and an early forced marriage and widowhood, Carol continues to nurture her dream of becoming an architect She moves to Manhattan, finds a job and mingles with a bohemian circle that includes idealistic Southern writer Seth Walden
