An Elegant Woman by Martha McPhee

☆☆☆☆☆
ebook, 349 pages
Expected publication: June 2nd 2020 by Scribner
About the Book:
Drawn from the author’s own family history, An Elegant Woman is a story of discovery and reinvention, following four generations of women in one American family. As Isadora, a novelist, and two of her sisters sift through the artifacts of their forebears’ lives, trying to decide what to salvage and what to toss, the narrative shifts to a winter day in 1910 at a train station in Ohio. Two girls wait in the winter cold with their mother—the mercurial Glenna Stewart—to depart for a new life in the West. As Glenna campaigns in Montana for women’s 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. A profound meditation on memory, history, and legacy, An Elegant Woman follows one woman over the course of the 20th century, taking the reader from a drought-stricken farm in Montana 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 Isadora’s efforts to retell her grandmother’s journey—and understand her own—the novel is an evocative exploration of the stories we tell ourselves, and what we leave out.

This inter generational family saga draws you in. You get to know the characters, love some, hate some, admire some, feel sorry for some. The fact that it is based on the women of the author's family made it such a joy to read. The message of the growing empowerment for women threaded throughout here is done with subtle grace and love.

The setting, characters and situations rang completely true to me. All the choices we make and the consequences we endure. McPhee’s book is a triumph. Not many novels can elevate the struggle of ordinary lives into the epic tales they deserve to be, but Ms. McPhee accomplishes this with grace. This is a fascinating book that deserves to be read more than once. A beautiful, emotional ride. I could not put the book down and did not want the story to end.

Thank you NetGalley, Scribner and Martha McPhee for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

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