By Taylor Jasmine | On February 26, 2017 | Updated October 8, 2022 | Comments (0)
Dorothy West (1907 – 1998) was the last surviving member of the Harlem Renaissance movement that was in full swing in 1920s New York City. She was quite young in the movement’s heyday and was affectionately called “the kid” by fellow authors and artists.
Dorothy quickly became known for well-crafted short stories. Her first novel, The Living is Easy, didn’t appear until 1948; then there was a gap of some forty-seven years until her last novel, The Wedding, was published in 1995.
Dorothy West was part of the circle of upper-class black residents of Martha’s Vineyard, having lived there since 1943. She drew from her background to create this slim yet impactful novel. One of her neighbors was Jackie Kennedy Onassis, who pressed her to finish this book. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On January 5, 2017 | Updated May 24, 2023 | Comments (0)
From the 1986 Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich edition of Henry and June by Anaïs Nin: This autobiographical account of Anaïs Nin’s sexual awakening is without parallel in modern letters.
Drawn from the unexpurgated Paris journals of Anaïs Nin, it describes a single momentous year in her life, from late 1931 to the end of 1932, when she met Henry Miller and his wife, June. She fell in love with June’s beauty and, at first, with Henry’s writing.
Soon after June’s departure for New York, Anaïs began a fiery affair with Henry that gambled with her marriage and her idyllic existence in Louveciennes. She discovered her true sexual nature and the meaning of passion. She also discovered the unknown Henry Miller, the gentle, passive man behind the writer’s violent words. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On October 22, 2016 | Updated October 2, 2022 | Comments (0)
From the 1997 Dutton Books edition of The Inheritance by Louisa May Alcott: Here at last is the book “Jo wrote.” Generations of fans have long to plumb that first romance, hinted at so captivatingly on the pages of Little Women, Alcott’s semi-autobiographical classic.
After nearly 150 years spent among archived family documents, Louisa May Alcott’s debut novel, written when she was only seventeen or so, finally reached its eager public.
Set in an English country manor, the story follows the turbulent fortunes of Edith Adelon, an impoverished Italian orphan whose loyalty and beauty win her the patronage of wealthy friends until a jealous rival contrives to rob her of her position. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On May 30, 2016 | Updated October 4, 2022 | Comments (0)
Untold Millions by Laura Z. Hobson was this distinguished (and fairly forgotten) author’s twelfth book. Published in 1982, it was the last novel by Hobson, remembered foremost for Gentleman’s Agreement. It came out nearly four decades earlier, and made a splash both in book form in as an award-winning film the following year (1947).
Untold Millions was described by its publisher as “a warm, touching and beautiful love story, is unlike any other novel she has written, and proves once again that Laura Z. Hobson is a master storyteller, a novelist of fine perceptions and great flair.” Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On May 27, 2016 | Updated September 30, 2022 | Comments (0)
From the 1964 Random House edition of First Papers: This hugely satisfying and moving novel, First Papers by Laura Z. Hobson, author of Gentleman’s Agreement, takes place during the six years that take us into the First World War.
The story centers around the triumphs and tragedies of an unforgettable family living on long Island during those critical years, but its powerful themes of freedom of speech and the ambiguities of patriotism speak more strongly to us today than ever. Read More→
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