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By Kate Pullinger
First published in 2009 by Serpent's Tail,
an imprint of Profile Books Ltd
Winner of 2009 Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction
Who was Lady Duff Gordon? Was she the beautiful and intelligent woman who entertained politicians, writers, and great thinkers of the day? Was she a tragic figure who had to leave her family in England to move to the dry air of Egypt due to her tuberculosis? Was she a generous woman, willing to help anyone who asked? Or was she a mean-spirited woman who turned on her long-time maid in the most spiteful manner?
According to Kate Pullinger, Lady Duff Gordon was all of these.
While this book has Lady Duff Gordon at its centre, Sally Naldrett is the core. Sally is Lady Duff Gordon's lady's maid and the narrator of the story. She moves to Egypt to care for her Lady and falls in love with the people and its customs. Being an English maid without any English customs to adhere to gives Sally and her Lady a set of freedoms they never before experienced; freedoms which can change your life's expectations.
This was a selection for the Bool Club. Although we all liked the book well enough, three of us thought it took more than half the book before it became compelling reading. There was a divide in the discussion on whether or not Lady Duff Gordon had made Sally feel she was more a companion than a maid, thus leading Sally to believe they were on friendly terms, or whether Sally should have known there would always be a line drawn between a British Lady and her maid no matter where in the world they should live.
Although this book was terribly slow to get going, it turned out to be quite interesting and, eventually, I was unable to put it down. This is an easy read and a good book for anyone interested in historical fiction.
By Jennifer Weiner
Published by Atria Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
July 2010
Jennifer Weiner has always written good books; I've read them all. But with last year's "Best Friends Forever" and now her latest novel, "Fly Away Home", Weiner seems to have taken on a new maturity and complexity in her writing. While previous novels seemed to centre around one main character, "Fly Away Home" is about a family, each character given an equal story, each story drawing the reader into the family.
US politicians cheating on their wives makes for a good story in real life and it makes for an excellent story here. What does a fifty-something wife do with this kind of news after she has spent her entire married life devoted to her husband, furthering his political ambitions? What do you do when your duties as a wife outweighed your duties as a mother - your every waking hour being consumed by life as a senator's spouse - and now you've been replaced by a younger version of you?
When Richard Woodruff's family finds out about his "transgression" each member embarks on a life-changing journey of their own. Wife Sylvie retreats to her childhood summer home in Connecticut; married daughter Diana, an ER physician, has to come to grips with her own affair with a med student; and single daughter Lizzie, having just come out of rehab, has to adjust to life without drugs or alcohol.
While each character's story is compelling, the minor players in the book bring out Weiner's comedic side - Gary, mouth-breathing husband of Diana; acerbic-tongued retired judge Selma, Sylvie's mother; and Sylvie's best friend, Ceil, round out the characters and make the book a little less serious.
This book has intrigued me more than any other Weiner has written. It's serious and funny, heart-breaking and loving. It's based on what we hear in the news, but brings us where the news never goes, which is into the heart of a family on the verge of splitting apart. "Fly Away Home" is Weiner's best novel yet.
