A no-nonsense delight! Impeccably written character-driven fiction. It's not so much about what happens as who it happens to. It took me almost a year to finish this book. I kept going back to it, like salve for my soul, every time I completed a morally bankrupt or poorly plotted story. "Charms for the Easy Life" set me right every time. Last night I finished it and sobbed, both touched by the characters and saddened my access into their lives had come to an end. Historical fiction that doesn't feature suppressed women is a rarity and I thoroughly enjoyed the self-determined spirit of this book.