By Taylor Jasmine | On April 10, 2016 | Updated September 30, 2022 | Comments (0)
From the 1961 Doubleday edition of No Signposts in the Sea by Vita Sackville-West: In this brilliantly fashioned short novel by Vita Sackville-West, one of the most distinguished of British writers, a famous journalist accompanies an attractive widow on a leisurely voyage and discovers the raptures and torments of an apparently unrequited love.
His passion mounts even as he must face the fact that his beloved is unattainable; for, as the reader gradually learns, it is not just a matter of his humble origins, nor of her reticence and seeming preference for a likable — and highly eligible — fellow passenger. It is that he himself has only a brief time to live. Read More→
By Emma Ward | On March 24, 2016 | Updated September 30, 2022 | Comments (0)
From the 1985 W.W. Norton edition: In May Sarton‘s novel, The Magnificent Spinster, she explores the realities and reverberations of a fifty-year friendship between two remarkable women that ended with the death of Jane Reid.
It is relived because Cam, in her seventies, felt compelled to celebrate “the magnificent spinster” in a novel. The story becomes a complex “double fiction” through which we experience both Cam’s struggles and triumphs and the dominant story of Jane Reid.
Jane was born a Boston Brahmin, grand-daughter of a legendary man of letters. Tall, beautiful, wealthy, she was pursued by men but was the intimate of women. Read More→
By Emma Ward | On March 22, 2016 | Updated September 30, 2022 | Comments (0)
From the 1982 W.W. Norton edition: In Anger by May Sarton, the author turns once more to the exploration of the inner landscape of marriage.
Here she is concerned with the differing attitudes of men and women toward expressed emotion, the exploring in talk of hidden attitudes and fears as they are seen through the clash of two opposing temperaments.
Her protagonists are Ned Fraser, a Bostonian banker, and Anna Lindstrom, a half-Italian, half-Swedish singer on the brink of fame. Ned has been brought up to believe that allowing anger out should not be permitted and is unable to express love except to his dog, Fonzi. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On February 21, 2016 | Updated October 18, 2024 | Comments (0)
From the 1993 W.W. Norton edition of Encore: A Journal of the Eightieth Year by May Sarton: In this affirmative new journal May Sarton describes both hardships and joys in the daily round — physical struggles counterbalanced by the satisfactions of friendship, nature, growing fame, and a return to writing poetry.
Sarton writes perceptively of how age affects her: the way small things take longer and tire more, how the body often hurts and feels fragile and scared.
Other days energy returns, spirits lift, projects abound. She returns to the garden — and her descriptions of flowers have never been more luminous. She savors particular pleasures, from good soup to the friends who come and help keep everything going. Read More→
By Taylor Jasmine | On February 21, 2016 | Updated September 30, 2022 | Comments (0)
From the 1990 Avenel edition of Days of Dreams and Laughter: The Story Girl and Other Tales by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery was first published in 1911.
“Never had we heard a voice like hers,” says the young narrator, describing the first meeting with Sara Stanley, “The Story Girl.”
So begins a merry journey into the hearts and lives of a close-knit group of Canadian teenagers. the heroine and her young companions, like Anne of Green Gables, are blessed with humor, spunk, a strong sense of adventure, and romantic souls. Read More→
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