It’s almost Labor Day and the unofficial end of summer. If you are off for holiday over the weekend or just home with some free hours, here are a couple of lighter books plus an engaging biography of a neglected writer who deserves more attention.
What have you been reading this summer? I’d love to know!
BON BON FOR THE BEACH
Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams
I have been noticing Williams’ novels on bookstore shelves, but this is the first one I’ve read. It’s a historical novel and a romance, but that doesn’t completely describe it. It also has a frothy element as its two main characters, Annabelle and Pepper, are rich and beautiful women who could have any man they wanted. The stories of these two alternate with most of the novel focusing on Annabelle in 1930’s France and Germany and her involvement with two men, Stefan, a German resister, and Johann, a high-ranking Nazi general. Annabelle and Pepper meet in 1966 in Florida when a pregnant Pepper sells Annabelle her 1936 Mercedes roadster and Annabelle takes her under her wing, sort of. It’s a delightful romp in the high life, mostly, and perfect escapism. (~JW Farrington)
SPIES IN PAKISTAN
Bloodmoney by David Ignatius
I occasionally read Mr. Ignatius’ columns in the Washington Post and decided to read this spy novel on the recommendation of my good friend Margaret. I didn’t find it as fast-paced as many reviews indicated, but I was fascinated by the tradecraft of spies—surveillance detection routes, for example—and the disguises, duplicity, and double-dealing required by operators on both sides. I became more engrossed the deeper into his version of Pakistan I got. (~ JW Farrington)
FORGOTTEN FENIMORE
Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist by Anne Boyd Rioux
As a relative of James Fenimore Cooper, Constance Fenimore Woolson gained entrée to select company and, initially, received more attention for her work than she might have otherwise. Later praised as the finest woman writer of her time, Woolson wrote a wide range of short stories and several novels. She traveled widely and often lived for several months in different climes, everywhere from Florida and Florence to England and Egypt. She became acquainted with Henry James, and although both were somewhat solitary souls dedicated to their writing, they enjoyed a close friendship. At one point they even lived in the same building in Florence one floor apart.
Woolson’s work, however, didn’t fall neatly into one movement or another; she wasn’t strictly a regionalist nor was she a student of social mores. She came between Sara Orne Jewett and Edith Wharton in time and hence, after much success, but uncategorizable, she was mostly forgotten after her early death. The fact that her death was most likely by her own doing didn’t help. I knew about Woolson from my reading of James’ biographies and was pleased to learn more about this vibrant, independent woman. (~ JW Farrington)
Miss Grief and Other Stories by Constance Fenimore Woolson
Readers owe a debt of gratitude to Anne Boyd Rioux for her engaging literary biography of Woolson and for resurrecting a representative sample of her short stories. Having read the biography with its detailed discussion of Woolson’s work, it is a treat to discover her. I have now read a few of the stories here and so far liked the most the title story, “Miss Grief,” about a successful young male writer and a middle-aged poor woman writer who wants to be published. It has both some humor as well as pathos.
I found the nature imagery too rhapsodic for my taste in her Great Lakes story, “St. Clair Flats,” but I thought the premise of “A Florentine Experiment” with its twists and turns was intriguing and with its emphasis on dialogue definitely reflective of Henry James. Both the biography and the story collection were published in 2016. (~ JW Farrington)
