The Test of Time
THE TEST OF TIME is a human tale about a fictional woman possessing no less emotion than a real-life person living through the decades of the 30s to the 70s.
This faux biography follows the literary tradition of extracting the essence—the charm and drama, the historical and philosophical meaning—of the character’s life. Four themes weave through this work:
War—Three generations of a family are caught up in the philosophical arguments for and against The Great War, World War II and Vietnam.
Marriage—Under the duress of wartime, Betty’s father and then Betty jump into hasty marriages only to witness the moral decay of their respective spouses.
Birth—Betty’s real mother gives her up to the socially-prominent wife of her father. Repeating this birth-mother role for her English lover, Betty feels torn between a perceived obligation to her aging father and her own moral obligation.
Money—Betty’s father’s inventiveness and her deportment challenge the envelope of business ethics.
The protagonist Betty Tillerman joins the WACS in World War II, has a hasty wartime marriage, becomes a post-war mother, pursues a business career of raising horses and has a love affair at the age of 50. Add to that storyline an intriguing plot that prods the politically correct family image.
