First up is a historical novel from Allison Pataki, who specializes in fictionalizing stories of women in history we may not know much about, like Marjorie Post (The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post) and Empress Sisi of Austria-Hungary (Sisi). Her latest is It Girl, which takes on the life of Evelyn Nesbit, a young woman who became world-famous for her beauty at the turn of the 20th Century.
This is a bit different from Pataki’s other historical novels in that she changes the name of Evelyn Nesbit to Evelyn Talbot in her novel. Evelyn is a young teenager who, after her father dies and leaves her family impoverished, discovers that her beauty can be her ticket out.
She meets a female sketch artist who uses Evelyn in advertising, and soon Evelyn’s face is everywhere. She moves to Manhattan with her mother and finds more work as a sketch model, becoming the first Gibson Girl known the world over. Eventually she ends up on the Broadway stage.
Evelyn catches the eye of Stanley Pierce (a stand-in for architect Stanford White), a rich and powerful man who takes Evelyn and her mother under his protective wing- too protective. He controls Evelyn’s every move until it becomes too unbearable for her.
Like her real-life counterpart, Evelyn becomes involved in “the Crime of the Century”, a murder-love triangle that captivated society, but Pataki tweaks the story enough to make it even more intriguing. Pataki immerses the reader in this time period, and while we may think this generation is obsessed with female beauty, we see the seeds of the supermodel in Evelyn. Historical fiction readers will want to pick It Girl up.
In more contemporary fiction, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s Lake Effect begins in 1977 Rochester, New York. A company town where many men have good jobs at Xerox and Kodak, the story takes place in a suburban neighborhood where families are friendly, frequently hosting dinner parties for each other.
Women’s roles are changing at this time, and when Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex, she discovers that she has been missing out on something in her marriage. When her neighbor Finn, who feels that he is missing something is his marriage as well, kisses her at a party, everything changes for both families.
Nina divorces her husband and marries Finn. This throws the lives of both families into turmoil, especially Nina’s daughter Clara, who was beginning a relationship with Finn’s son Dune.
Dune has to care for his mother Honey and his sister now that his father is out of the house. Clara becomes a mother figure to her younger sister Bridie, taking over in the kitchen where her mother used to make elaborate meals for them all. Dune and Clara’s relationship is over before it started, and Clara blames Nina.
Susan Mallery is an author I frequently read and her newest novel The Bookstore Diaries initially attracted me as I also work in a bookstore. This one takes place in a small seaside California community, and I also enjoy a small town story.
Jax is a divorced mom of two who owns a local bookstore. Her husband left her and now is dating a much younger woman. Jax and her husband switch off weeks in the family home to make things easier on their children. Which it does until he becomes engaged.
Jax has control issues, and when her sister Ryleigh hints she may be moving away, Jax will not stand for it. When the bookstore has some foundation issues that need to be addressed, the handsome contractor who steps in to help is attracted to Jax, but Jax doesn’t know if she is ready to date or not.
The characters in the story are interesting, and I like that Jax has some obvious flaws. The small town setting wonderful, and this is a terrific book to kick back with and enjoy.
