A 1960 novel by Lynne Reid Banks. Set in the late 1950s, it follows Jane, a young unmarried pregnant woman who moves to a London boarding house filled with misfits and befriends them, especially a young writer named Toby. They begin a relationship, only for Jane's secret to be exposed; however, she finds help from the other boarders as her due date arrives.
Two sequels were published: The Backward Shadow (1970) and Two is Lonely (1974).
The first novel was adapted into a 1962 film of the same name, directed by Bryan Forbes and starring Leslie Caron.The movie is seen as a example of Kitchen Sink Realism and did very well with Caron earning herself the Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for best actress, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Contains examples of:
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: Jane has her baby, and that mainly stays the same, while in the novel her favourite aunt takes her to the country to have her son and later gives her money in her will that she uses to buy a house, in the movie Toby finishes his story which he gives to Jane in the hospital after she has her daughter and she leaves London with her baby to France.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Jane's backstory is changed:
- In the book she was a middle class English girl who upon revealing her pregnancy was kicked out by her father.
- In the movie she is French and it's clear her family live in France.
- Adapted Out: There is several edits from the book to novel:
- The novel has a lot of characters and many get cut or mixed with others.
- Backstories are also cut from the movie like Toby being Jewish.
- Jane in the book is prejudiced towards Johnny despite their friendship and says a few homophobic things. However she changes after her pregnancy is revealed and she is shunned.
- Jane's father comes to the flat to ask her to come home and she refuses.
- All Gays Love Theatre: Two of Jane's fellow boarders are homosexual, and both are performing artists; Johnny is a jazz trumpeter, and Mavis is a retired music hall performer.
- Bittersweet Ending: In the film, Jane gives birth to a healthy baby girl and plans to return to her parents' house in France to raise her, but her relationship with Toby has crashed and burned thanks to his wounded pride over being neither the baby's father nor able to offer any financial stability. He writes a short story about her called "The L-Shaped Room" and submits it for publication; in the final scene, she leaves the draft copy on his typewriter with a handwritten note saying she loved the story but that it feels unfinished, hinting that she is leaving the door open for a possible reconciliation.
- Chekhov's Gun: Mavis and Jane are talking about Christmas and they talk family. Mavis reveals she has no one and that she only had one love, pointing to the picture frame of them; Jane looks at it and realises Mavis is a lesbian, for those who had been watching know that the picture is of a woman on a trapeze.
- Dinner and a Show: Averted, Christmas Day is very jolly and Mavis even sings for the house. However, just as everyone is going for gold, Jane goes into labour.
- Dr. Jerk: The doctor Jane meets to talk about her child thinks she there for an abortion, and from the look of his car and suits, it's clear that he is paid well for it.
- Family of Choice: Jane's fellow boarders include an assortment of misfits - a penniless struggling writer, a gay West Indian jazz trumpeter, a retired music hall performer, and two prostitutes - but they have become close friends who look out for each other as a result, and they all help Jane in different ways to prepare for both the actual childbirth process and providing for the baby afterwards.
- Fish out of Water: In the book, Jane is a middle class girl who has an independent bank account, meaning she could afford better than the house in Fulham but chooses it to punish herself.
- Glorified Sperm Donor: The father to Jane's baby. In the film, his lone scene involves a brief conversation with her in a cafe in which he offers to give her the money for an abortion, but she tells him she plans to keep the baby and doesn't reciprocate the feelings he claims to have for her.
- Gold Digger: Subverted in The Backwards Shadow. Joanne was a failed actress in her late 30s. She married her husband for his money, promising to make him a good wife and give him a baby if she could. The marriage was very happy and she was genuinely upset at his death, while recognising that everyone thought this was she had been waiting for.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: When Jane admits to the doctor that she isn't going to marry the unborn's father, he offers to fix the 'problem' but Jane refuses that as well.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Once Jane gives them a chance she sees that the ones in the basement flat are kind-hearted.
- My Secret Pregnancy: The protagonist has absolutely no respect for the father and doesn't really want him around, so she doesn't tell him. Made easier by the fact that their paths had uncrossed by then. He finds out by happening to pass her when she's very big.
- Struggling Single Mother: In the novel once Jane's pregnancy is noticeable she loses her job, is shunned by many people and she herself feels terrible, but as a outcast those she once was prejudiced about come to her aid and in a way she becomes a better person for it.
- Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Done in a non-badass way: the protagonist gets pregnant after a one night stand, and although she refuses the father's offer to marry her, he still feels guilty and wants to help. After helping her get back in contact with her "boyfriend," the father deliberately provokes a fight so that the boyfriend can beat him up and, having taken his beating, feels absolved of all guilt or responsibility in the pregnancy.
