Synopses & Reviews
From a prizewinning, beloved young author, a provocative collection that explores the lives of colorful, intrepid women in history. “These stories linger in one’s memory long after reading them” Star Tribune, Minneapolis).
The fascinating characters in Megan Mayhew Bergman’s “collection of stories as beautiful and strange as the women who inspired them” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) 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 an elegant and intimate look at artists who desired recognition. “By assiduously depicting their intimacy and power struggles, Bergman allows for a close examination of the multiplicity of women’s experiences” (The New York Times Book Review).
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. Almost Famous Women is “addictive and tantalizing, each story whetting our appetite for more” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
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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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“In these inventive short stories, off-the-radar historical characters—a motorbike racer, a diva, Oscar Wildes niece—enter the limelight at last.” MORE Magazine
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"Gutsy and expertly written." Bustle
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"Fearless stories star[ring] an eccentric cavalcade." Vanity Fair
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"Real women are found at the heart of these tales, women unusual for their times and almost entirely forgotten in ours... Arresting... Sympathetic, never romanticizing often self-destructive behavior, but exploring why these women sought risk taking and the effect of their impulses." Miami Herald
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"Seek within to find the forgotten. Bergman's well-written short stories tell the tales of women who almost made it into history books." Leanna Bales, Kansas City Star
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"Thrill-seeking women abound in the collection, chock-full of bravery, defiance and creativity." Tara Wanda Merrigan , GQ
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"Bergman is a spry and meticulous writer, and these stories linger in ones memory long after reading them." Minneapolis Star Tribune
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“Lovely and heartbreaking.” Anjelica Huston, author of Watch Me
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"Rough-cut gems of a bygone era." O, The Oprah Magazine
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.