The Reader's Shelf: After “The End”: Fresh Takes on Beloved Classics, May 15, 2011
May 15, 2011Rereading the classics and experiencing their time-tested pleasures is a perfect way to spend rainy spring days. But discovering fresh, imaginative facets of beloved characters and authors is perhaps an even better fit to the newness of this time of year. From authors who finally get stories of their own to characters who find further adventures, the myriad pleasures of extended stories await in these six novels.
Set in the moody and rugged English moors, Denise Giardina’s sensitive and heartbreaking Emily’s Ghost: A Novel of the BrontË Sisters (Norton. 2010. ISBN 9780393338485. pap. $14.95) evocatively portrays the daily struggles and emotional hardships faced by the Brontë family. When a charming and idealistic clergyman, William Weightman, arrives in the village of Haworth, all three sisters are smitten. But only Emily’s compassion, free spirit, and passion for nature and life capture his heart, and soon their deep friendship turns into a love affair. While their relationship is tested by tragedy and sadness, it nevertheless remains everlasting. Bringing the Brontë sisters to life with great sensitivity, Giardina allows readers an intimate glimpse into their imagined world while evoking the same passionate sensibility present in Emily’s Wuthering Heights.
Rebecca’s Tale (HarperPaperbacks: HarperCollins. 2007. ISBN 9780061174674. pap. $14.95), Sally Beauman’s authorized companion to Rebecca, continues Daphne du Maurier’s gothic masterpiece 20 years later. Presented through the voices of multiple characters, the novel nicely matches the mystery and feel of the original. While the aging Colonel Julyan, the magistrate of the town at the time of Rebecca’s death, will be familiar to many readers, Beauman introduces new characters as well. Terence Gray, is a tight-lipped and mysterious fellow who arrives to research and attempt to solve the mystery behind Rebecca’s strange and sudden end—while keeping secrets of his own. Julyan’s daughter, Ellie, also weighs in on the mystery, but it is Rebecca’s voice, presented through her journal entries, that might intrigue readers the most.
F. Scott Fitzgerald and his first love, Ginevra King, star in Caroline Preston’s imaginative and fascinating Gatsby’s Girl (Mariner: Houghton Harcourt. 2007. ISBN 9780618872619. pap. $13.95). Ginevra and Scott meet at a country club dance. Even though she is far above him socially, the two are attracted and correspond for months, sending each other long, passionate letters. Although the intense romance burns out quickly for Ginevra, Scott uses her as the inspiration for many of his iconic female characters. In turn, she follows her fictional self in the pages of his books. This perfect blend of fact and fiction evokes the Roaring Twenties and intriguingly explores the mirrored relationship of fictional persona.
In Chelsea Cain’s parody, Confessions of a Teen Sleuth (Bloomsbury. 2005. ISBN 9781582345116. $15.95. o.p. but widely held), readers discover that Nancy Drew was a real-life sleuth and that while she married Ned Nickerson, she always had a thing for Frank Hardy—who just happens to be the father of her son, Ned Jr. With sly wit and wonderful sensibility, Cain’s fun-filled romp details some of Nancy’s “other” major cases. Forget the secrets of that old clock; Cain shares how Nancy took on the Nazis with Frank, got involved with the CIA, and collaborated with Encyclopedia Brown. For all its sassy twists, Cain’s work does a great job of recalling the feel of the original Nancy Drew stories while inviting readers to imagine a future beyond The Thirteenth Pearl.
In Wintering (Anchor: Random. 2003. ISBN 9781400035007. pap. $14), Kate Moses brilliantly, and with great emotional depth, re-creates the heart-wrenching final two weeks in Sylvia Plath’s life. Deserted by her husband, the equally renowned poet Ted Hughes, Sylvia battles the icy cold London winter as she struggles to achieve success as a poet, to mother her two young children, and to deal with Hughes’s abandonment. The novel flashes back through Plath’s personal and professional life, allowing the reader an amazingly creative glimpse into the her mind and inner being.
Kelly O’Connor McNees’s The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott (Berkley: Penguin Group [USA]. 2011. ISBN 9780425240830. pap. $15) presents an imaginary love story for Louisa that nicely recalls the feel of the 19th century. One summer, when Louisa’s family moves from Boston to New Hampshire, the 22-year-old falls passionately in love with Joseph Singer, whose father owns the local dry goods store. Louisa, who desperately desires her independence and has plans to move back to Boston and become a paid writer, is torn between her goal and marrying Joseph. This novel, loosely based on biographical details about the Alcott family, expertly captures the essence of Louisa’s life and her innermost struggles to find fulfillment and happiness.
This column was contributed by freelance writer April L. Judge, The Reading Group Girl. She lives in Morris Plains, NJ, and is Director, West Caldwell Public Library
| Author Information |
| Neal Wyatt compiles LJ’s online feature Wyatt’s World and is the author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Nonfiction (ALA Editions, 2007). She is a collection development and readers’ advisory librarian from Virginia. Those interested in contributing to The Reader’s Shelf should contact her directly at Readers_Shelf@comcast.net |
