I picked this novel up on a whim, thinking it would be a good beach book, and I was pleasantly surprised. I think the title is unfortunate because Rosie Thomas is more than the labeled romance writer. I haven't read any of her other 20 or so novels, but when I read a bit more about the author, I discovered that she is an adventurer who has travelled all over the world and is personally acquainted with the Himalayas and the countries which they surround. Her settings are places she has traveled to and familiar with.
The story is set in both Wales and Kashmir, and moves back and forth between 1939 on the eve of WWII and current day. It is mainly about a Welch woman, Nerys Watkins and her Presbyterian missionary husband, Evan, who go out to a small isolated village in Kashmir to preach the gospel. The isolated village of Leh is cut off from the outside world for half of the year by the mountain snows and severe weather. When her husband decides to trek further into the mountainous regions, he convinces Nerys to move with friends to the safer haven of Srinagar, a beautiful lakeside city where a British garrison is housed with a large population of Europeans.
Fast forward to current day, and Nerys' granddaughter, Mair, when cleaning out the family home in Northern Wales, finds a beautiful Pashmina shawl with intricate embroidery wrapped in tissue along with a lock of light brown hair. When no one in the family appears to know its origin or story of why it has been kept so carefully, Mair decides to track down the mystery and perhaps discover something more about her grandparents. Being at loose ends with time to spare, Mair travels to Kashmir to begin her detective work. She brings with her an old photo of Nerys and two other unidentified woman smiling on the deck of a houseboat. It is the story of these three woman who lived in Kashmir at a time when India and Pakistan were about to receive independence and Kashmir was caught between their ambitions which continues to this day.
Thomas writes well and has woven enough history into the story to make the book more interesting than just a romantic tale. The ending will surprise as well, and the shawl ties the story of Nerys and Mair together. Mair recognizes this is no ordinary pashmina like the machine-made ones we see in department today. This shawl was lovingly crafted and has a story of its own. Even today, in an interview, the author tells us that similar hand crafted shawls cost well over $1000.
I enjoyed the book more than I imagined I would, and though some situations were contrived, it is a good escapism read with enough meat to the story to make it interesting.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Monday, May 29, 2017
THE SPINNING HEART by Donal Ryan (fiction)
"The Spinning Heart" was nominated for the Mann-Booker Prize and was chosen as the Irish Book of the Year when it was first published in 2012. Set in a small Irish town whose chief industry was a construction company which rose to dominance during Ireland's economic boom at the turn of the new century, the novel is a series of 21 vignettes, each comprising a chapter and each the story of a character, much like Anne Enright's "Green Road."
Now the recession has arrived and it is after the 2008 economic crash. Each of the 21 characters has a tale to tell as we are privy to his or her internal monologue. The characters know each other and are loosely connected through their previous jobs or family. The first chapter introduces us to Bobby Mahon who was the foreman at the construction company. We discover right away that the boss, Pokey Burke (and son of the owner) has fled the scene after he destroyed the company through his dishonest dealings which affected the lives of all his laborers who were left pensionless. Bobby Mahon was at one time the lad about town with a bright future. His story is the thread which runs though all the other tales of dysfunctional families, alcoholism, poverty, and desperation. Bobby is loyal to a father whom he hates but can't abandon. "I go there everyday to see is he dead and every day he lets me down." His overbearing father has never been able to show the love that he does feel toward his family.
Looming over all at the edge of town is a new building estate, half-finished, abandoned and a sad reminder that at one time prosperity was around the corner. It is reminiscent of others all over Ireland at the time. One showed up in the Tana French book, "Broken Harbour." In one of the few occupied houses, lives Realtin, a single mother who is desperate to make ends meet. She and Bobby are thrown together by chance and a tragedy grows out of their innocent relationship.
Ryan writes of real people, not only the working class, but also teachers and lawyers who have lost their living because of the depression. The voice of the characters is rich in West Ireland speech patterns and dialogue. The story is a reminder of the way life can change on a dime and the vagaries of fate.
Now the recession has arrived and it is after the 2008 economic crash. Each of the 21 characters has a tale to tell as we are privy to his or her internal monologue. The characters know each other and are loosely connected through their previous jobs or family. The first chapter introduces us to Bobby Mahon who was the foreman at the construction company. We discover right away that the boss, Pokey Burke (and son of the owner) has fled the scene after he destroyed the company through his dishonest dealings which affected the lives of all his laborers who were left pensionless. Bobby Mahon was at one time the lad about town with a bright future. His story is the thread which runs though all the other tales of dysfunctional families, alcoholism, poverty, and desperation. Bobby is loyal to a father whom he hates but can't abandon. "I go there everyday to see is he dead and every day he lets me down." His overbearing father has never been able to show the love that he does feel toward his family.
Looming over all at the edge of town is a new building estate, half-finished, abandoned and a sad reminder that at one time prosperity was around the corner. It is reminiscent of others all over Ireland at the time. One showed up in the Tana French book, "Broken Harbour." In one of the few occupied houses, lives Realtin, a single mother who is desperate to make ends meet. She and Bobby are thrown together by chance and a tragedy grows out of their innocent relationship.
Ryan writes of real people, not only the working class, but also teachers and lawyers who have lost their living because of the depression. The voice of the characters is rich in West Ireland speech patterns and dialogue. The story is a reminder of the way life can change on a dime and the vagaries of fate.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
THE REEF by Edith Wharton (fiction)
Sometimes it is a pleasant journey to return to an old classic and a bygone era. Just so with this novel by Edith Wharton, written in 1912, that respite year, just before the great World War broke out. Woodrow Wilson had just been elected President, Charlie Chaplin had made his first film, and it was the year of the sinking of the Titanic. I had not read this book before, though I have read and enjoyed many of Wharton's other novels. This book is not as well known as her other classics. When Wharton wrote this book, her marriage was all but finished. She was at loose ends and had just begun an affair with Morton Fullerton. Women were enjoying more freedom and were traveling alone, taking jobs, freeing themselves from corsets, and expressing their independence.
Each of the three main characters in the story, as it unfolds, come to grips with a psychological struggle concerning the meaning of the lives they are living.
George Darrow is a single American diplomat who was shuttling between Paris and London. He becomes reacquainted with an old love interest, a wealthy widow, with one child. They rekindle their romance, but Anna Leath is a product of the old way of life and society. She is a beautiful woman who feels comfortable in the upper class's rigid conformity to society's rules. Anna has been protected from life's struggles. However, her love for George causes her to awaken to the modern world which she is not a part of. She questions the meaning of her life and her previous marriage which she realizes was neither real nor alive.
In his travel to Paris from London, George meets a vivacious and modern young woman, Sophy Viner who is charming in her natural openness. George is captivated by her, and as their friendship develops, he struggles with the dichotomy of his feelings for both women. Sophy in turn, is uncomfortable with her feelings for a man that she instinctively recognizes is unobtainable.
How these characters lives affect each other and become entwined forms the plot of the story. There is a point when George muses on their predicament feeling that, "They seemed like the ghostly lovers of the Grecian Urn, forever pursuing without ever clasping each other."
I enjoyed visiting this long lost time in the years before war brought changes, that caused life never to be the same again. Wharton is adept at realizing her characters and setting the scene of the era that was her modern world. Paris and the life of the French upper class, is beautifully written.
Each of the three main characters in the story, as it unfolds, come to grips with a psychological struggle concerning the meaning of the lives they are living.
George Darrow is a single American diplomat who was shuttling between Paris and London. He becomes reacquainted with an old love interest, a wealthy widow, with one child. They rekindle their romance, but Anna Leath is a product of the old way of life and society. She is a beautiful woman who feels comfortable in the upper class's rigid conformity to society's rules. Anna has been protected from life's struggles. However, her love for George causes her to awaken to the modern world which she is not a part of. She questions the meaning of her life and her previous marriage which she realizes was neither real nor alive.
In his travel to Paris from London, George meets a vivacious and modern young woman, Sophy Viner who is charming in her natural openness. George is captivated by her, and as their friendship develops, he struggles with the dichotomy of his feelings for both women. Sophy in turn, is uncomfortable with her feelings for a man that she instinctively recognizes is unobtainable.
How these characters lives affect each other and become entwined forms the plot of the story. There is a point when George muses on their predicament feeling that, "They seemed like the ghostly lovers of the Grecian Urn, forever pursuing without ever clasping each other."
I enjoyed visiting this long lost time in the years before war brought changes, that caused life never to be the same again. Wharton is adept at realizing her characters and setting the scene of the era that was her modern world. Paris and the life of the French upper class, is beautifully written.
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
REPUTATIONS by Juan Gabriel Vasquez (fiction)
This is the noted Columbian author, Juan Gabriel Vasquez's latest novel. It follows the successful "The Sound of Things Falling," an enthralling novel placed during the time of the Colombia drug wars. I enjoyed "Reputations" even more. Vasquez usually writes of a period of time grounded in historical fact, and this is his first novel since moving back to Bogata after spending most of his life living in Europe. The books was translated from the Spanish into English by the excellent Anne McLean, herself a recipient of a number of awards.
Although Columbia's difficult period in politics forms a discreet background for the story, Vasquez's focus is on Javier Mallarino, a noted and lauded political cartoonist. Mallarino has weathered various threats on his life, forcing him in 1980 to move out of the city to a more rural area. It opens as he is about to receive an award for his work. In the celebration following his honoring, he meets up with a young woman, a friend of his daughter's who is seeking the truth about an incident from her childhood that had occurred at Mallarino's home. This is the catalyst that causes Mallarino to examine the past and in doing so it creates doubts about the part he played in the suicide of a former Congressman, Adolfo Cuellar, whom he had ridiculed in a series of political cartoons.
The young woman, Samanta, brings back memories of his relationship with his ex-wife and his distant daughter. The incident, which may or may not have happened, took place at a celebration at the Mallarino's country home. Cuellar came to the party uninvited in an effort to speak with Mallarino, who rebuffed his pleading to stop harassing him. At some point in the evening, it appeared that Cuellar had interfered with the young Samanta. It remained unclear what actually happened and Samanta was on a mission to discover this incident in her life that her parents refused to speak about. Mallarino agrees to help Samanta, find the answer to the missing piece of her life. In delving into the past, he begins to doubt that anything actually happened, and his quest leads him to seriously question his own motives in the downfall of Cuellar. In reflection, Mallarino states, ...." there was only one thing the public liked more than humiliation, and that was the humiliation of the humiliator."
Vasquez's books often hark back to the theme of memory. Like the belief of an indigenous tribe in Columbia, Mallarino muses, "...the past is what is in front of us, because we can see it and know it, but the future is what is behind, what we do not see and cannot know.....It is a poor sort of memory that only works backward." The past begins to haunt Mallarino; it has a way of returning to bite one's complacency. He examines the breakdown of his relationships. Characters drift apart, others return years later. In attempting to reconcile with his wife, when Mallarino suggests they try to reunite, she replies: "I like my life the way it is. It has taken me years to get it together and I like it the way it is. I like solitude." Vasquez often shows us the solitude of city life where one is surrounded by people, yet in many ways, alone.
Juan Gabriel Vasquez is on of my favorite writers. His books are thoughtful with insights into the human character and at the same time they are placed in specific times in history. He is a fabulous writer and luckily has an excellent translator who is able to portray accurately the beauty of his spare but meaningful language. I highly recommend this book to all readers.
Although Columbia's difficult period in politics forms a discreet background for the story, Vasquez's focus is on Javier Mallarino, a noted and lauded political cartoonist. Mallarino has weathered various threats on his life, forcing him in 1980 to move out of the city to a more rural area. It opens as he is about to receive an award for his work. In the celebration following his honoring, he meets up with a young woman, a friend of his daughter's who is seeking the truth about an incident from her childhood that had occurred at Mallarino's home. This is the catalyst that causes Mallarino to examine the past and in doing so it creates doubts about the part he played in the suicide of a former Congressman, Adolfo Cuellar, whom he had ridiculed in a series of political cartoons.
The young woman, Samanta, brings back memories of his relationship with his ex-wife and his distant daughter. The incident, which may or may not have happened, took place at a celebration at the Mallarino's country home. Cuellar came to the party uninvited in an effort to speak with Mallarino, who rebuffed his pleading to stop harassing him. At some point in the evening, it appeared that Cuellar had interfered with the young Samanta. It remained unclear what actually happened and Samanta was on a mission to discover this incident in her life that her parents refused to speak about. Mallarino agrees to help Samanta, find the answer to the missing piece of her life. In delving into the past, he begins to doubt that anything actually happened, and his quest leads him to seriously question his own motives in the downfall of Cuellar. In reflection, Mallarino states, ...." there was only one thing the public liked more than humiliation, and that was the humiliation of the humiliator."
Vasquez's books often hark back to the theme of memory. Like the belief of an indigenous tribe in Columbia, Mallarino muses, "...the past is what is in front of us, because we can see it and know it, but the future is what is behind, what we do not see and cannot know.....It is a poor sort of memory that only works backward." The past begins to haunt Mallarino; it has a way of returning to bite one's complacency. He examines the breakdown of his relationships. Characters drift apart, others return years later. In attempting to reconcile with his wife, when Mallarino suggests they try to reunite, she replies: "I like my life the way it is. It has taken me years to get it together and I like it the way it is. I like solitude." Vasquez often shows us the solitude of city life where one is surrounded by people, yet in many ways, alone.
Juan Gabriel Vasquez is on of my favorite writers. His books are thoughtful with insights into the human character and at the same time they are placed in specific times in history. He is a fabulous writer and luckily has an excellent translator who is able to portray accurately the beauty of his spare but meaningful language. I highly recommend this book to all readers.
Thursday, April 27, 2017
THE GREEN ROAD by Anne Enright (fic)
Anne Enright was a Man Booker Prize winner for "The Gathering." I enjoyed this novel even more. Enright is a soulful writer, who notices all the vagaries of everyday life. She is masterful at getting at the soul of Irish families and presenting the dynamics of their relationships in subtle ways. The beautiful Green Road is a country road which runs through the town of Ardeevin in County Clare. It leads to the sea and winds its way through the story until the end of the book.
In Part 1 of the book we meet the Madigan Family. It is Palm Sunday in 1980 and we are going to follow this family for 25 years. Enright devotes a chapter to each of the family members. It begins with the youngest, Hanna, being sent to the chemist to pick up medicine for her mother, Rosaleen, a drama queen who is always taking to her bed, when things don't go her way. Her children refer to this as "the horizontal solution." Dan the oldest boy and Rosaleen's favorite announces at dinner that he is going into the priesthood. Rosaleen immediately takes to her bed in a fit of the vapors, and so it begins.
Well, Dan never does become a priest and the next time we meet him it is 1991 and he has moved to New York City and it becomes apparent that he is a popular member of the gay community in Lower Manhattan. Enright gives a poignant picture of the devastating effect of the AIDS epidemic on his friends.
Emmet, the younger Madigan son, is an aid worker in Mali. In 2002 we see him living with his current girlfriend, working among the poor. By 2005, Emmit is back in Dublin, living with a Dutch woman, seemingly unable to commit to any kind of relationship.
In Part 2, it is the Christmas season in 2005 and Rosaleen, now a widow, is 76 and feeling her age. She is having trouble concentrating on her Christmas card writing. She has decided to sell the house which prompts the children to return for a final reunion in the house. In this part of the book we follow Connie, the oldest daughter, who is married to a successful contractor and is busy being a modern mother and burdened with the care of Rosaleen, whom she hasn't been able to separate from in the way the other children had. Before she married she took one trip to New York to see Dan, hoping she might find a new life there. When things didn't work out in the city she declared, "This is the place you went to get a whole new life, and all she got was a couple of Eileen Fisher cardigans in lilac and grey."
By this time, Hanna, a 37 year old failed actress, is living in Dublin with the father of her child and is a caustic alcoholic.
Each chapter could be a short story, yet they are all connected and the climax of the novel takes place on Christmas Day as the family is gathered together, clearly a damaged and dysfunctional lot. Rosaleen is as manipulative as ever and it is this manipulation which binds these very different sibling together.
This is a beautifully written novel, by a talented master writer. Enright's timing is perfect when it comes to breaking up the unhappiness of the characters with a light comic touch I highly recommend it to all readers.
In Part 1 of the book we meet the Madigan Family. It is Palm Sunday in 1980 and we are going to follow this family for 25 years. Enright devotes a chapter to each of the family members. It begins with the youngest, Hanna, being sent to the chemist to pick up medicine for her mother, Rosaleen, a drama queen who is always taking to her bed, when things don't go her way. Her children refer to this as "the horizontal solution." Dan the oldest boy and Rosaleen's favorite announces at dinner that he is going into the priesthood. Rosaleen immediately takes to her bed in a fit of the vapors, and so it begins.
Well, Dan never does become a priest and the next time we meet him it is 1991 and he has moved to New York City and it becomes apparent that he is a popular member of the gay community in Lower Manhattan. Enright gives a poignant picture of the devastating effect of the AIDS epidemic on his friends.
Emmet, the younger Madigan son, is an aid worker in Mali. In 2002 we see him living with his current girlfriend, working among the poor. By 2005, Emmit is back in Dublin, living with a Dutch woman, seemingly unable to commit to any kind of relationship.
In Part 2, it is the Christmas season in 2005 and Rosaleen, now a widow, is 76 and feeling her age. She is having trouble concentrating on her Christmas card writing. She has decided to sell the house which prompts the children to return for a final reunion in the house. In this part of the book we follow Connie, the oldest daughter, who is married to a successful contractor and is busy being a modern mother and burdened with the care of Rosaleen, whom she hasn't been able to separate from in the way the other children had. Before she married she took one trip to New York to see Dan, hoping she might find a new life there. When things didn't work out in the city she declared, "This is the place you went to get a whole new life, and all she got was a couple of Eileen Fisher cardigans in lilac and grey."
By this time, Hanna, a 37 year old failed actress, is living in Dublin with the father of her child and is a caustic alcoholic.
Each chapter could be a short story, yet they are all connected and the climax of the novel takes place on Christmas Day as the family is gathered together, clearly a damaged and dysfunctional lot. Rosaleen is as manipulative as ever and it is this manipulation which binds these very different sibling together.
This is a beautifully written novel, by a talented master writer. Enright's timing is perfect when it comes to breaking up the unhappiness of the characters with a light comic touch I highly recommend it to all readers.
Monday, April 17, 2017
THE ASSOCIATION OF SMALL BOMBS by Karan Mahajan (fic)
Mahajan's novel, a National Book Award finalist, opens in 1996 in Delhi. A group of Kashmiri terrorists are planning to detonate a bomb in a busy market in the crowded city, protesting India's policies in Kashmir. These men are amateurish in their planning and execution, revealing petty issues within their group; there are jealousies and a pecking order. They are not radicalized terrorists, other than hating the chief minister, Narendra Modi, they don't have a coherent focus. They were inspired by the 1993 World Trade Center attack. Despite poor planning and some buffoonish behavior, they manage to detonate a small bomb which kills 13 people.
Among those who died in the attack are two young Hindu boys, sons of Deepa and Vikas Khurana. A Muslim friend who was at the market with them manages to escape, but is badly injured. Thus begins the story of the aftermath of the bombing and the psychological toll it took on the young boy, Mansoor, his family and the family of the dead brothers. The effect of the stress and trauma is relentless on these characters. Mansoor attends university in America, but after 9/11, his parents want him home, worried about anti-Muslim sentiment in the States. Back home, Mansoor becomes involved with a group of non-violent students who are trying to help wrongly jailed men who are victims of police brutality and corruption. One friend he makes there, Ayub, changes Mansoor forever. Meanwhile, Mansoor's parents form a group which they call the association of small bombs to help and give support to victims of terrorist bombings.
The effect of their sons' deaths on Deepa and Vikas was disastrous to their relationship. Each retreats to their own internal world. "Vikas felt he understood the bomb. It was part of his world." Meanwhile Deepa begins a half-hearted affair, that eventually fizzles out for lack of real passion.
While the subject matter of the novel is very serious, Mahajan paces his writing perfectly, with moments of comic relief and the vagaries of everyday life. His writing is brilliant at times, and his descriptions of the aftermath of the bombing is masterful. His characters, both good and bad, are revealed as real people with all their worries and foibles and suffering. Things are not black and white, there are many shades of gray. Mahajan's writing is influenced by his own experiences.
I enjoyed this book and felt it helped the reader understand both victims and activists. I recommend it to all readers. There is much food for thought within.
Among those who died in the attack are two young Hindu boys, sons of Deepa and Vikas Khurana. A Muslim friend who was at the market with them manages to escape, but is badly injured. Thus begins the story of the aftermath of the bombing and the psychological toll it took on the young boy, Mansoor, his family and the family of the dead brothers. The effect of the stress and trauma is relentless on these characters. Mansoor attends university in America, but after 9/11, his parents want him home, worried about anti-Muslim sentiment in the States. Back home, Mansoor becomes involved with a group of non-violent students who are trying to help wrongly jailed men who are victims of police brutality and corruption. One friend he makes there, Ayub, changes Mansoor forever. Meanwhile, Mansoor's parents form a group which they call the association of small bombs to help and give support to victims of terrorist bombings.
The effect of their sons' deaths on Deepa and Vikas was disastrous to their relationship. Each retreats to their own internal world. "Vikas felt he understood the bomb. It was part of his world." Meanwhile Deepa begins a half-hearted affair, that eventually fizzles out for lack of real passion.
While the subject matter of the novel is very serious, Mahajan paces his writing perfectly, with moments of comic relief and the vagaries of everyday life. His writing is brilliant at times, and his descriptions of the aftermath of the bombing is masterful. His characters, both good and bad, are revealed as real people with all their worries and foibles and suffering. Things are not black and white, there are many shades of gray. Mahajan's writing is influenced by his own experiences.
I enjoyed this book and felt it helped the reader understand both victims and activists. I recommend it to all readers. There is much food for thought within.
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
ROMANTIC OUTLAWS by Charlotte Gordon (non-fic)
Subtitle: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft & Mary Shelley
Charlotte Gordon presents her biography of the brilliant mother/daughter authors in a unique and enjoyable way. She intertwines the story of each in alternating chapters, showing them at the same age. At first I found the switching back and forth irritating, but once I got into the book, I liked it a lot. It is very interesting to see these two women at each stage of their development. Both women were shaped by their difficult backgrounds. Wollstonecraft had an unstable alcoholic father who moved his large family from place to place as it suited him. When Mary Wollstonecraft died of childbirth fever at age 38 after a short marriage to William Godwin of five months, Mary Shelly was left to be brought up by a step mother. Neither had a happy childhood. Money was always a problem in both households. Yet, both women grew into strong-willed, brave, free-thinking women, ahead of their times in all respects.
Wollstonecraft left home at an early age. All doors were closed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to women who aspired to free-thinking and independence. Other than prostitution, the only way for a woman to earn even a pittance was as a servant, or in the case of those having some education, as a governess, teacher or in rare cases, a writer. A writer is exactly what Wollstonecraft aspired to be. After she made her way to London, Wollstonecraft managed to be mentored by a the publisher, Joseph Johnson, who recognized her genus in the first manuscript she handed to him. Soon she was trading stories with the likes of Thomas Paine, William Godwin and other known philosophers, all of whom respected her intelligence. Despite her desire for independence, Mary became involved with several men with sad results. Suffering from depression, she twice attempted suicide before in her middle thirties, until she fell in love with William Godwin and seemed to at last have found a soul mate.
Mary Shelly, was profoundly influenced by her mother's life and writings, though the two women were quite different. At a very young age, Mary Godwin was introduced to the romantic and popular poet, Percy Shelley who was married at the time. He found her intellect and free-thinking fascinating, and she fell deeply in love with him. She was very young and Shelley, like contemporaries Byron and Keats, had what today would be rock star status. They eloped, and later married when Shelley's wife committed suicide. They ran with what was considered a fast crowd, and though Shelly was aristocratically wealthy, he was always being threatened with disinheritance by his disappointed father.
While Wollstonecraft wrote philosophically, Mary Shelley was best known for her groundbreaking gothic novel, "Frankenstein." Mother and daughter, both fighting social norms, made names for themselves. Both women were dogged and depended upon by their families. Mary Shelley's opinions were just as strong as her mother's, but she had easier relationships with men and she was faithful to Shelley throughout their marriage. The same could not be said of him. We are familiar with the brilliant Percy Shelley's death in a sailing accident in 1822 at only 29 years of age. It is hard to believe that Mary Shelley was only 24 herself. It seemed they had lived a lifetime together and suffered many adventures and travels. They tragically lost three children to disease at young ages. Mary's step-sister, Claire, was always present in their lives, bringing unwelcome drama with her sexual relations with both Byron and Shelley.
Mary Shelley soldiered on until 1851 when at age 58, she died of a brain tumor. She had one surviving child, Percy who was a dutiful and faithful son, with no interest in writing.
The two Marys are buried together.
I recommend this book to all readers. It is a well-written account of two fascinating women who defied the ages they lived in, to become examples to later generations.
Charlotte Gordon presents her biography of the brilliant mother/daughter authors in a unique and enjoyable way. She intertwines the story of each in alternating chapters, showing them at the same age. At first I found the switching back and forth irritating, but once I got into the book, I liked it a lot. It is very interesting to see these two women at each stage of their development. Both women were shaped by their difficult backgrounds. Wollstonecraft had an unstable alcoholic father who moved his large family from place to place as it suited him. When Mary Wollstonecraft died of childbirth fever at age 38 after a short marriage to William Godwin of five months, Mary Shelly was left to be brought up by a step mother. Neither had a happy childhood. Money was always a problem in both households. Yet, both women grew into strong-willed, brave, free-thinking women, ahead of their times in all respects.
Wollstonecraft left home at an early age. All doors were closed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to women who aspired to free-thinking and independence. Other than prostitution, the only way for a woman to earn even a pittance was as a servant, or in the case of those having some education, as a governess, teacher or in rare cases, a writer. A writer is exactly what Wollstonecraft aspired to be. After she made her way to London, Wollstonecraft managed to be mentored by a the publisher, Joseph Johnson, who recognized her genus in the first manuscript she handed to him. Soon she was trading stories with the likes of Thomas Paine, William Godwin and other known philosophers, all of whom respected her intelligence. Despite her desire for independence, Mary became involved with several men with sad results. Suffering from depression, she twice attempted suicide before in her middle thirties, until she fell in love with William Godwin and seemed to at last have found a soul mate.
Mary Shelly, was profoundly influenced by her mother's life and writings, though the two women were quite different. At a very young age, Mary Godwin was introduced to the romantic and popular poet, Percy Shelley who was married at the time. He found her intellect and free-thinking fascinating, and she fell deeply in love with him. She was very young and Shelley, like contemporaries Byron and Keats, had what today would be rock star status. They eloped, and later married when Shelley's wife committed suicide. They ran with what was considered a fast crowd, and though Shelly was aristocratically wealthy, he was always being threatened with disinheritance by his disappointed father.
While Wollstonecraft wrote philosophically, Mary Shelley was best known for her groundbreaking gothic novel, "Frankenstein." Mother and daughter, both fighting social norms, made names for themselves. Both women were dogged and depended upon by their families. Mary Shelley's opinions were just as strong as her mother's, but she had easier relationships with men and she was faithful to Shelley throughout their marriage. The same could not be said of him. We are familiar with the brilliant Percy Shelley's death in a sailing accident in 1822 at only 29 years of age. It is hard to believe that Mary Shelley was only 24 herself. It seemed they had lived a lifetime together and suffered many adventures and travels. They tragically lost three children to disease at young ages. Mary's step-sister, Claire, was always present in their lives, bringing unwelcome drama with her sexual relations with both Byron and Shelley.
Mary Shelley soldiered on until 1851 when at age 58, she died of a brain tumor. She had one surviving child, Percy who was a dutiful and faithful son, with no interest in writing.
The two Marys are buried together.
I recommend this book to all readers. It is a well-written account of two fascinating women who defied the ages they lived in, to become examples to later generations.
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