Synopses & Reviews
Zelda Fitzgerald was the mythical American Dream Girl of the Roaring Twenties who became, in the words of her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald, the first American flapper.” Their romance transformed a symbol of glamour and spectacle of the Jazz Age. When Zelda cracked up, not long after the stock market crash of 1929, Scott remained loyal to her through a nightmare of later breakdowns and final madness.
Sally Cline brings us a trenchantly authentic voice through Zeldas own highly autobiographical writings and hundreds of letters she wrote to friends and family, publishers and others. New medical evidence and interviews with Zeldas last psychiatrist suggest that her insanity” may have been less a specific clinical condition than the product of the treatment she endured for schizophrenia and her husbands devastating alcoholism. In narrating Zeldas tumultuous life, Cline vividly evokes the circle of Jazz Age friends that included Edmund Wilson, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Dorothy Parker, Lillian Hellman, and H. L. Mencken. Her exhaustive research and incisive analysis animate a profoundly
moving portrait of Zelda and provide a convincing context to the legacy of her tragedy.
Review
"Wrapped up in a thorough biography, a strong case for why the unfortunate Zelda Fitzgerald should be remembered as an artist foremost, not merely as a victim of mental illness." Kirkus Reviews
Review
Cline imbues her scenes with revelatory detail.
Review
"Sally Cline succeeds in breathing fresh life into this jazz-age icon in her meticulously documented and eminently readable biography." The Washington Post Book World
Review
"Cline imbues her scenes with revelatory detail." Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Synopsis
The definitive biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, who became "the first American flapper."
About the Author
Sally Cline teaches at the University of Cambridge and is the author of Couples: Scenes from the Inside and an acclaimed biography of Radclyffe Hall, among other works. She lives in England.