A Bigamist's Daughter

by Alice McDermott

Book Overview

This description may be from another edition of this product. The New York Times Bestselling Author of After This and Charming Billy Elizabeth Connelly, editor at a New York vanity press, sells the dream of publication (admittedly, to writers of questionable...

Customer Reviews

Myth, Reality, Illusion -- The World of Love and Literature

In a novel that dissects, deconstructs and recreates the fabric of life, love and literature, the author spotlights the world of publishing; the mythology of love, the elusiveness of the love object - all as the centerpiece of this work - formulate the basis for this story. We begin with Elizabeth Connelly, a single woman living in New York - some time in the twentieth century, before computers or the current Internet generation - and discover her real life as an "editor-in-chief" at what is known in that day as a "vanity press." She meets her potential authors, praises their work - even when it is less than stellar - and signs them to contracts. They pay their fee and dream their dreams. But one day she meets an author - Tupper Daniels, a southern gentleman - and in helping him "create an ending" for his unfinished manuscript, she stumbles down a path of exploration that leads her into the surreal world of elusive fathers - traveling fathers like her own - who are leading secret lives. Questioning all the stories told her by her mother, and examining her own tendency to tell tales - even create myths - about her own past loves, she begins to understand that fantasies, illusions and love myths have a life of their own, flourishing because of the necessity to preserve those very myths. Fascinating portrayal of love, literature, and the elusive nature of dreams, A Bigamist's Daughter is a memorable novel that earns five stars. Laurel-Rain Snow

Myth, Reality, Illusion -- The World of Love and Literature

In a novel that dissects, deconstructs and recreates the fabric of life, love and literature, the author spotlights the world of publishing; the mythology of love, the elusiveness of the love object - all as the centerpiece of this work - formulate the basis for this story. We begin with Elizabeth Connelly, a single woman living in New York - some time in the twentieth century, before computers or the current Internet generation - and discover her real life as an "editor-in-chief" at what is known in that day as a "vanity press." She meets her potential authors, praises their work - even when it is less than stellar - and signs them to contracts. They pay their fee and dream their dreams. But one day she meets an author - Tupper Daniels, a southern gentleman - and in helping him "create an ending" for his unfinished manuscript, she stumbles down a path of exploration that leads her into the surreal world of elusive fathers - traveling fathers like her own - who are leading secret lives. Questioning all the stories told her by her mother, and examining her own tendency to tell tales - even create myths - about her own past loves, she begins to understand that fantasies, illusions and love myths have a life of their own, flourishing because of the necessity to preserve those very myths. Fascinating portrayal of love, literature, and the elusive nature of dreams, A Bigamist's Daughter is a memorable novel that earns five stars. Laurel-Rain Snow Author of: Chasing Stardust, etc.

it enthralled me

I liked this so well, I've bought 5 copies as gifts. Illuminating look at family relationships, memory, story, integrity. Just when you think you have these characters figured out, there's an AHA! incident which you should have anticipated, but didn't. Has one of the best last lines in fiction. Her best work!

A woman's view of men and love

A wonderful examination of male-female relationships. The book is funny, it is insightful, it is a revelation to me, a a man. I suspected, but was not clued in to the workings of the female mind. The author ( as in Charming Billy ) is fascinated with the concept of obsessive love. And posits that we have the capacity to love many in a lifetime; star crossed lovers are fine for Romeo and Juliette, but not in the real world. She sees the choices and tradeoffs which we face,and presents them in a most thoughtful and engaging way. I really liked this book. More than her later, "Charming Billy". She is a talented writer.