![]() ![]() Read against the backdrop of Production Code-era movies of the time, they remind us that life as lived in the '40s and '50s was not as black-and-white morally as Hollywood would have us believe. ![]() Even as early as the '40s and '50s, her books have a mature and matter-of-fact view of class distinctions, sexual freedom and frustration, and the ambivalence of moral codes depending on a character's economic circumstances. Millar was a pioneer in writing about the psychology of women. Her books focus on subtleties of human interaction and rich psychological detail of individual characters as much as on plot. Millar often delivers "surprise endings," but the details that would allow the solution of the surprise have usually been subtly included, in the best genre tradition. In general, she is a writer of both expressive description and economy, often ambitious in conveying the sociological context of the stories. In some of the books (for example in The Iron Gates) we are given insight into what it feels like to be losing touch with reality and evolving into madness. Unusual people, mild societal misfits or people who don't quite fit into their surroundings are given much interior detail. Often we are shown the rather complex interior lives of the people in her books, with issues of class, insecurity, failed ambitions, loneliness or existential isolation or paranoia often being explored. Millar's books are distinguished by depth of characterization. ![]()
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