What was this book about?
Isobel spent years with her husband letting him support her before he gets sick and it is her turn. He isn’t interested in anything – so she handles all the money. What he doesn’t know is that her books aren’t earning the money they once were. As he starts to feel better he gets bigger dreams about what he wants and what they need – and those dreams cost money.
She is an author of literary works – she knows that this other “fluff” is easy to write. When financial difficulty sets in she decides she will write one of these books – only for the money. But she doesn’t want her life and works ruined by a book for money. So she creates an alternative character – an author named Zelda.
She couldn’t do all this without her agent Tony. He is her support. And as time progresses he takes his turn at being Zelda too. It is alluring and sexy and they love this alternate person they created?
But what does that mean for Isobel’s life at home? What about her husband?
What did you think about the book?
I love Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction. It is great. I have read many of her other books and the best word to describe it is just different. They cover topics that you never read about in a way that you really don’t see elsewhere. But despite the intriguing and new storylines (much like this one) they really just don’t hit a resounding note with me.
This one had great promise. I love the idea of a wife who was supported by her husband (emotionally, financially) having to turn around and become the breadwinner and supporter when he is sick. She is almost saintly in the way that she has decided he did so much for her that she should do this for him. And in many ways the fact that she does this leads to her behavior in the later chapters.
I understand her need for an alternate lifestyle. I also understand how it can all get away from you. The allure of the clothes, the face, the makeup. And for someone who lived a relatively sheltered existence – even the fact that it became sexual in many ways. So she liked it when Tony becomes Zelda just as much as when she did. It became something they could share. Something that linked them in so many ways.
Was Tony a transgender person? Did she bring it out in him? How did the trust she have in him relate to the fact that she couldn’t seem to trust her husband with the facts of what was going on in their life? Do you think she had a reason to keep that from him?
What genre would you consider this?
Fiction
Overall:
Question for You!
Have you ever kept a secret life from those that you love?
No comments:
Post a Comment