Introduction
Today's children are growing up much faster and learning the facts of life at a much earlier age, than their parents did only a generation ago. This is so obvious that few people would deny it—which is fortunate, because denying it could well be the equivalent of inviting disaster.
The lowering of the voting age is only one of the inevitable results we have seen recently. It would not be rash to predict that the vote may be given to even younger people at some time in the future. Right now, not only teenagers but even ten-year-olds debate politics with their parents. In some cases, they discuss sex with them, too. And it is not only a matter of just asking where babies come from; the "kids" want the full details, not vague generalities.
Many schools now offer classes in sex education. Naturally, these classes will vary in quality, but the important thing is that the initial breakthrough has been made; better teaching materials and more competent teachers will follow. And it is of course debatable whether sex education is a cause of the youngsters' faster growing up or a necessary result of this development. It seems likely that youth is being given sex education in the schools now because it is so obvious they need it at the earliest possible age, rather than that they are maturing earlier because some radically progressive educator had the bright idea of teaching them the truth about the birds and the bees.
The Shamed Young Widow is, in a very real sense, about sex education—but it is not about the kind of sex education that takes place in the classroom. On the contrary, the three daughters of Jane Spicer, the young widow of the title, get as practical an education as could possibly be.
This is Paula Dennison's first novel. As readers of other Dansk Blue Books are probably aware, many of the novels we publish are commissioned; that is, when we have decided on a particular theme for a novel we want to publish, we assign it to the writer we consider best qualified to handle it. Mrs. Dennison's manuscript came to us in the mail, unsolicited. It would be pleasant to say that our first readers raved over it. As it happened, however, one of the assistant editors who considered it first praised it enthusiastically; another thought it was "well done, but not really a Dansk book." Naturally, this reaction aroused the curiosity of the senior editors. They read it with eager but unusually critical eyes, and—as you can see—decided to publish it immediately.
Perhaps the reason the first readers disagreed is that The Shamed Young Widow is in large part autobiographical. As a result, portions of it are unquestionably extremely graphic, with details that not only ring true but hit home with a precision that couldn't be achieved by the unaided imagination. This is definitely an earthy, realistic book and one that we do not wish to recommend to the squeamish. We are confident, however, that the objective reader who is not easily shocked will consider it a minor masterpiece.
As indicated, Paula Dennison is herself a young widow with daughters to support and educate. She has transmuted her own experiences into the story of Jane Spicer, who has a dual problem. Jane is a normal woman, with perfectly healthy sexual desires. Although she may have recovered from her sorrow over her husband's death, she still needs love: physical love as well as tender affection. She is still attractive enough to be able to find that love, but how can she carry on a romance when three pairs of young eyes are watching her almost constantly? That is one part of the problem; the other is her increasing awareness that her daughters are rapidly developing into the full bloom of womanhood and will very soon be seeking the physical love of healthy young males in addition to the tender affection which she as their mother is able to supply them.
Jane's dilemma is very real and very pressing. There is no solution that will provide complete satisfaction for everyone involved, for there are bound to be tensions, jealousies and perhaps even physical danger before the conflicts are resolved. But since Paula Dennison has been able to solve similar problems in real life, she is ideally equipped to present a satisfactory solution in fiction.
Needless to say, we are publishing The Shamed Young Widow in full confidence that it will meet an enthusiastic reception from mature readers and critics. As a pleasant byproduct, it is nice to know that Mrs. Dennison's income as a writer will enable her to avoid at least her more vexing financial problems in the future. We at Dansk Blue Books are happy to have been part of her birth as a writer and her rebirth as a human being. We look forward to publishing many more novels by Paula Dennison in the future.