Synopsis:
From “a top-notch emerging writer with a crisp and often poetic voice and wily, intelligent humor” (The Boston Globe): a collection of stories that explores the lives of talented, gutsy women throughout history.
The fascinating lives of the characters in Almost Famous Women have mostly been forgotten, but their stories are burning to be told. Now Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of Birds of a Lesser Paradise, resurrects these women, lets them live in the reader’s imagination, so we can explore their difficult choices. Nearly every story in this dazzling collection is based on a woman who attained some celebrity—she raced speed boats or was a conjoined twin in show business; a reclusive painter of renown; a member of the first all-female, integrated swing band. We see Lord Byron’s illegitimate daughter, Allegra; Oscar Wilde’s troubled niece, Dolly; West With the Night author Beryl Markham; Edna St. Vincent Millay’s sister, Norma. These extraordinary stories travel the world, explore the past (and delve into the future), and portray fiercely independent women defined by their acts of bravery, creative impulses, and sometimes reckless decisions.
The world hasn’t always been kind to unusual women, but through Megan Mayhew Bergman’s alluring depictions they finally receive the attention they deserve. Almost Famous Women is a gorgeous collection from an “accomplished writer of short fiction” (Booklist).
Review:
I got this ebook from Netgalley in return of an honest review.
When I first saw this book I knew I needed to read it. There are too many people whose lives we ignore, especially women, and I love to see authors like Megan Mayhew Bergman that are trying to bring them to light.
First of all, I have to admit that, overall, this book was fascinating. It was truly a fascinating and engrossing book.
The writing was so graceful and raw and true and it was, in my opinion, what made these stories so special: the fact that the previously (virtually) unknown stories of these amazing and fantastic women were being told in such a delightful and bewitching way.
As for the stories themselves, I found that they left me wanting to know more about these women. Not only that, but I wanted to know them, know their stories from them, know how they became them in their own words, because I truly believe that these would have been amazing people to be around, to know and to have a conversation with. I really felt a connection with them through Bergman's writing.
My favourite, though, was, without a doubt, Who Killed Dolly Wilde?, not only due to my utter fascination with her uncle, Oscar Wilde, but also because I felt that this story was the most honest and personal. I was so heartfelt and I loved it to levels I can't begin to explain.
I found myself googling each and every women whose story was told here and I lost myself in my research. I encourage everyone to do the same, because it takes this book to other levels and is part of why I loved it: the way it made me want to know more, to read every book mentioned in the author's note.
Also, each story felt so different, so personal to it's main character, and it is prodigious, really, how the same author can make it so.
The only thing that misguided me a bit was the fact that I originally thought this was a nonfiction book, but, although that's not the case, it didn't, in any way, take way the magic of the book itself.
I recommend this to someone who, like me, has a passion for freaky history, the underground knowledge of non famous celebrities, sort of speak.
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