âA portrait of self-creation in the vein of F. Scott Fitzgeraldâ,â (The Wall Street Journal) An Elegant Woman is âa rich exploration of legacy and memoryâ (Entertainment Weekly) that follows four generations of women against the sweep of 20th century American history.
Drawn from the authorâs own family history, this powerful, moving multigenerational saga from National Book Award finalist Martha McPhee masterfully explores the stories we tell ourselves, and what we leave out.
As Isadora, a novelist, and two of her sisters sift through the artifacts of their forebearsâ lives, trying to decide what to salvage and what to toss, the story shifts to a winter day in 1910 at a train station in Ohio. Two girls wait in the winter cold with their motherâthe mercurial Glenna Stewartâto depart for a new life in the West. As Glenna campaigns in Montana for womenâs suffrage and teaches in one-room schoolhouses, Tommy takes care of her little sister, Katherine: trapping animals, begging, keeping house, cooking, while Katherine goes to school. When Katherine graduates, Tommy makes a decision that will change the course of both of their lives.
Told âwith an easy grace many historical novels lackâ (Los Angeles Times), An Elegant Woman follows one woman over the course of the 20th century, taking us from a drought-stricken Montana farm to a yellow Victorian in Maine; from the halls of a psychiatric hospital in London to a wedding gown fitting at Bergdorf Goodman; from a house in small town Ohio to a family reunion at a sweltering New Jersey pig roast. Framed by Isadoraâs efforts to retell her grandmotherâs journeyâand understand her ownâthe novel is âsharp, precise, and, yes, elegantâ (The Boston Globe) in its gorgeous depiction of one hundred years in a familyâs history.