A Woman's Role: A 1950s Romance

A Woman’s Role, set in rural Pennsylvania, follows Celina as she comes to the realization that the days of her life are dragging, but the years are rushing by. She is a twenty-three year-old spinster, chafing under her parents’ urgings to find a husband before it is too late. Alongside her best friend, Pattie, she spends her days in a monotonous job at Duxbury’s, the local department store, planning her escape into a career in journalism—all of this in the man’s world of the 1950s when few women challenged the pressures of a traditional family and culture. Celina’s annoying but loyal older brother, Johnny, craftily manages to introduce her to a handsome Hungarian immigrant who throws her plans into disarray. And her elderly friend, Harriet, offers unsolicited advice on how best to live her life. After a fear filled confrontation with her employer, Celina finds herself navigating uncertainties and making weighty decisions about the direction her life will take.