In The Flight of the Maidens, Jane Gardam spins a captivating tale as she follows three young women through the weeks leading up to their departures for college. It's the summer of 1946, and the shadow of World War II lingers over a still-devastated England...and in the hearts and minds of its people, including Hetty, Una, and Lieselotte. Hetty Fallowes escapes the confines of her parent's house by fleeing to the Lake District to study and prepare for college. Here she receives her first taste of independence even as she struggles to distance herself from her mother and their alternately loving and conflicted relationship.

Una Vane travels the English countryside with Ray, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. As she asserts her nascent womanhood and explores her sexuality, she begins to question the direction her life is taking.

For Lieselotte Klein, who "came from Hamburg and had arrived in England in June 1939, on the last train full of refugee children, the Kindertransport," the summer finally brings answers about her uncertain past. A journey to London and then to America allows her to finally uncover the truth about her German Jewish heritage.

As the three struggle to find meaning and love in a new world, they realize that they still have much to learn, and that their friendship is perhaps the only constant in an ever-changing world.