Book Review: Gatsby's Girl by Caroline Preston
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Romance with Socialite Ginevra King
For author F. Scott Fitzgerald, before there was Zelda there was Ginevra. For decades, little was known about the young Chicago socialite, Ginevra King, whom biographers agree was the author's inspiration for The Great Gatsby's Daisy Buchanan, among others. Now, thanks to Caroline Preston's research and resulting novel Gatsby's Girl, readers have another piece of the much-studied author's life to contemplate.
Forgotten Correspondence Leads to Historical Novel
The spark for Gatsby's Girl came when Caroline Preston, herself a research manuscript librarian as well as the author of two other novels, discovered a 2003 donation of papers made to the Special Collections of Princeton University's library. Among the papers were a typed manuscript of all of Ginevra King's letters to Scott during their year-and-a-half, mostly epistolary, teenage romance.
The manuscript/letters had taken a circuitous route to arrive at Princeton, the school Fitzgerald dropped out of in his Junior year. Upon the end of their relationship, Scott requested that Ginevra destroy his letters to her. While she fulfilled his request, he never destroyed her letters. After the author's 1940 death, his daughter Scottie found the manuscript, which had been typed out presumably to aid in the composition of Fitzgerald's Josephine Perry stories. Scottie sought out and gave them to Ginevra, who was somewhat stunned and ashamed of the letters. Many years after her 1980 death, King's family donated the manuscript, which had been hidden in a closet for decades.
"Based On Actual Events"
Author Preston has crafted a piece of historical fiction that is both entertaining and informative. Although she makes it quite clear in her "historical notes" that this is a work of fiction, much of what is known about this literary romance overlaps with the narrative. Gatsby's Girl's protagonist is one Ginevra Perry, a clever combination of the real life inspiration, and Josephine Perry, the fictional character Fitzgerald created for five of his Basil and Josephine Stories, and who is quite clearly based on Ginevra King.
The plot line of Gatsby's Girl follows closely what is known about the actual romance, including the teenagers' meeting in St. Paul at a bobsled party, and Fitzgerald's disastrous visit to her family home in Chicago in the summer of 1915. King's half of the correspondence between the two teens, which ran to hundreds of pages, is not directly quoted but used well by the author not only to deduce the other half, but form the story around them.
Gatsby's Girl Entertains On Several Levels
Those readers who may have little interest in the "story behind the story" will find a well-written, entertaining read nonetheless. Strictly as a period romance, Gatsby's Girl engages the reader and remains true to a World War I American setting. And though Fitzgerald serves as the catalyst, this is every bit Ginevra's story, from snotty little rich girl to self-assured contemporary woman.
The added layer of entertainment is for fans of Fitzgerald's fiction, who will smile at the many allusions to his stories. For instance, Ginevra's best friend is a female golf pro, more than reminiscent of Daisy's pal Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby. The suggestion is that Scott and Ginevra's immature and short-lived romance had a profound effect on his writing, and Preston does this successfully throughout her novel.
Preston, Caroline. Gatsby's Girl, Houghton Mifflin Co. (isbn#13:978-0-618-53725-9)
Gatsby's Girl by Caroline Preston
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Reading & Literature
Latest Articles