Synopses & Reviews
From "a top-notch emerging writer with a crisp and often poetic voice and wily, intelligent humor" (The Boston Globe): a collection of stories that explores the lives of talented, gutsy women throughout history.
The fascinating lives of the characters in Almost Famous Women have mostly been forgotten, but their stories are burning to be told. Now Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of Birds of a Lesser Paradise, resurrects these women, lets them live in the reader's imagination, so we can explore their difficult choices. Nearly every story in this dazzling collection is based on a woman who attained some celebrity — she raced speed boats or was a conjoined twin in show business; a reclusive painter of renown; a member of the first all-female, integrated swing band. We see Lord Byron's illegitimate daughter, Allegra; Oscar Wilde's troubled niece, Dolly; West with the Night author Beryl Markham; Edna St. Vincent Millay's sister, Norma. These extraordinary stories travel the world, explore the past (and delve into the future), and portray fiercely independent women defined by their acts of bravery, creative impulses, and sometimes reckless decisions.
The world hasn't always been kind to unusual women, but through Megan Mayhew Bergman's alluring depictions they finally receive the attention they deserve. Almost Famous Women is a gorgeous collection from an "accomplished writer of short fiction" (Booklist).
Review
"Every one of these stories is as vibrant, as urgent, as surprising as the women therein. What a thrill to listen as they cohere into a chorus of powerful, affecting and often hilarious voices, each unforgettable, together undeniable. Another stunning collection from the brilliant Megan Mayhew Bergman." Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Battleborn
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"Megan Mayhew Bergman breathes life into lives that men and history have cast aside. It is rare that an author is as fearless as her characters. Bergman is, and Almost Famous Women is a stunning feat of great daring." Lily King, author of Euphoria
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"Megan Mayhew Bergman is a tremendous writer — compassionate and intelligent, generous and funny — and Almost Famous Women is a collection filled with empathy, insight and extraordinary psychological precision. Mayhew Bergman has made the women who inhabit this beautiful book come fully to life — I won't ever forget them."
Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans
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"A collection of stories as beautiful and strange as the women who inspired them." Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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"Rough-cut gems of a bygone era." O, The Oprah Magazine
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"Fearless stories star[ring] an eccentric cavalcade." Vanity Fair
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"Thrill-seeking women abound in the collection, chock-full of bravery, defiance and creativity." Shelf Awareness
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"There's an allure to reading about the historical lives of women who bucked social conventions, even when they come, as they so often do, to a tragic end. We read them with an element of wish-fulfillment, searching for assurances that there were other ways to think and be." Chicago Tribune
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"Graceful prose charged with knowingness and certitude....Thanks to Bergmana's assured writing, many of these women — fictional and historical — will burn bright in one’s mind well after reading these fine stories." Boston Globe
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"By exploring the women who didn't quite make it into history books, Bergman offers thoughtful commentary on the stories we do and don't preserve." The New York Times Book Review
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"Ingenious… atmospheric… intense, richly imagined tales." Maureen Corrigan, Fresh Air
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"[Bergman] nimbly animates the stories when she approaches them from tangential angles, often from the perspective of another character with something at stake." The New York Times
Synopsis
From the acclaimed author of Birds of a Lesser Paradise, a dazzling new collection that explores the lives of unforgettable women in history.
The fascinating characters in Megan Mayhew Bergman's new stories are defined by their creative impulses, fierce independence, and sometimes reckless decisions. In "The Siege at Whale Cay," cross-dressing Standard Oil heiress Joe Carstairs seduces Marlene Dietrich. In "A High-Grade Bitch Sits Down for Lunch," aviator and writer Beryl Markham lives alone in Nairobi and engages in a battle of wills with a stallion. In "Hell-Diving Women," the first integrated, all-girl swing band sparks a violent reaction in North Carolina.
Other heroines, born in proximity to the spotlight, struggle to distinguish themselves: Lord Byron's illegitimate daughter, Allegra; Oscar Wilde's wild niece, Dolly; Edna St. Vincent Millay's talented sister, Norma; James Joyce's daughter, Lucia.
Almost Famous Women offers and elegant and intimate look at artists who desired recognition. The world wasn't always kind to the women who star in these stories, but through Mayhew Bergman's stunning imagination, they receive the attention they deserve.
About the Author
Megan Mayhew Bergman is the author of Almost Famous Women and Birds of a Lesser Paradise. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Best American Short Stories, New Stories from the South, McSweeney's, Tin House, and Oxford American, among other publications. She lives on a small farm in Vermont with her veterinarian husband, two daughters, and many animals.