Nadine Feldman, Author

celebrating strong female characters and whatever else strikes my fancy

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Book Review: Great Circle

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In Great Circle:  A Novel, author Maggie Shipstead takes us into the epic life of a female aviator, Marian Graves. Rescued from a sinking ship as an infant with her twin brother, Jamie, Marian grows up in Montana, raised by an uncle who had little interest in the two children. While still a teenager, Marian discovers a passion for planes…and will do anything to learn to fly.

Several decades after Marian disappears on a “great circle” flight to both the north and south pole, actress Hadley Baxter is playing Marian in a movie. Hadley is a successful but disgraced actress who takes the role initially to try to redeem herself in Hollywood. The story weaves back and forth between Marian’s life and Hadley’s.

Two things really stood out to me when reading this novel. First, it’s too easy to misinterpret or minimize the complexity of someone’s life when observing it from the outside. After Marian’s disappearance, writers tried to fill in the blanks, creating myth and misinformation. Hadley has to deal with tabloid culture.

Second, I was struck by how a life can be altered by one small action or shift. If Marian hadn’t been rescued as a newborn, she would never have existed. It was as if every aspect of her life led her to flight, but one less twist or turn would have given her a very different experience.

Shipstead’s command of research and her ability to weave it into a story are astounding. Readers will learn a lot about the history of flight and the role of women that is often under-reported.

Initially I had some trouble getting into the story. There’s a fair amount of set-up that may come across as random. Hang in there. It will all make sense in the end. I also struggled a bit with Marian’s precociousness, but I consider this a minor criticism, as the era of The Great Depression forced people to grow up fast. 

I would highly recommend Great Circle to anyone who loves stories about tenacious women. There’s a lot here about families, friendships, and love here, too.

Great Circle‘s release date is May 4, 2021. NOTE: I received a free copy of this novel via NetGalley in return for an unbiased review.

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Book Review: Anxious People

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This is the first book I’ve read by Swedish author Fredrik Backman, though some years ago I saw the movie version of A Man Called Ove. My trip through this novel was quite a journey!

Anxious People tells the story of a would-be bank robber, a hostage situation, a bridge, and much more. We twist and turn through the story as if on a roller coaster. Backman alternately makes us laugh and then pulls the rug out from under us, revealing some new detail that is so shocking we are stunned to tears.

The bank robber, you see, is not a real criminal, but someone desperate to get enough money to handle a short-term cash flow problem. The hostages taken turn out to be a group of people with their own issues, and while the would-be bank robber/hostage taker tries to figure out what to do (having zero experience in hostage-taking), somehow start to bond.

Often as I was reading asked myself, how can such a frightening situation be so…funny? It’s not easy to pull that off.

The tightrope walk between comedy and intense drama is one Backman handles brilliantly. There are interesting parallels and connections among some of the characters that I found believable, especially given that they were in a small town. Details are revealed just when they need to be and in a way that keeps the jaw dropping to the floor. I can’t wait to read all his other books!

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Happy Labor Day!

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In the world of the upcoming novel Jane, the Factory Girl, mill workers grind it out 14 hours a day, five days a week, then 10 hours on Saturdays. Sundays are the only day off. Even children work long hours, though less than the adults. Workers were often asked to work in unsafe conditions, and wages could be cut at the whim of the mill owners.

It’s hard for me to grasp what that world was like. They say “write what you know,” and there’s no way I can truly know what day-to-day life was like for my great-great grandparents, to whom I gave fictionalized lives in this book. My own existence is cushy in contrast. Even when I did hold a full-time job, I never had to work under those conditions.

On this Labor Day, let us remember that the development of unions provided safer environments, reduced work hours, and provided protections to workers to keep their jobs.

Recently in New York City, the Teachers Union was able to successfully postpone school openings until later this month to create a better environment to protect students, teachers, and staff from COVID-19.

My late father was a union worker. Thanks to the union, he was paid a decent wage that allowed him to provide for his family. My younger brother belongs to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Unions aren’t perfect. In some cases, they have taken on their own corruption. And at times it appears police unions, while valuable, have protected rogue cops who use excessive force. As with all organizations, unions have their flaws and must be held accountable when they go too far.

Yet unions are at risk in these uncertain times. The existence of unions has benefitted even non-union workers, so let us today pay homage to unions and all they have provided. We don’t want to go back to the days of Jane, the Factory Girl.

A Truly “Delicious!” Book

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The reading gods are continuing to smile upon me as I work through a trove of novels that are absolutely wonderful! I don’t often get a streak like this, and many times so-called must reads don’t flip my button at all.

This week’s selection is Delicious! A Novel by Ruth Reichl. This is her first novel, but she’s written a lot about food in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and more. She’s published non-fiction books as well, and I’m now eager to read all of them! So it makes sense that her first novel would be about, well, food.

Billie Breslin is a young woman with a perfect palette who doesn’t cook. We don’t know why, though I promise, all will be revealed. She has dropped out of college to take a job at Delicious!, a food magazine.

As Billie struggles to create a life for herself far from family, she builds a friendship with Sal and his wife Rosalie, making his cheese shop her second home. Then there’s Sammy, the eccentric and fabulous travel writer, and Jake, the owner of the magazine. Oh, and let’s not forget Mr. Complainer, a regular customer of Sal’s!

It’s hard to write more without adding a lot of spoilers, so I’ll just add that there’s a whole subplot devoted to certain letters addressed to James Beard, who in this novel once ran Delicious!. These letters, and the story that is revealed from them, are in my opinion the meat of the book.

Billie’s past will break your heart. But along the way, there is a lot of joy, friendship, and community, plus the smells and tastes of food that will make you hungry while you read. Yes, there are recipes at the end.

Delight!

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When the Fair Folk, the Fae, the Fairies, showed up in the manuscript for Factory Girl, my first impulse was to shoo them away. I had an idea of what the story was about, especially since it is based in part on an actual life.

But the magic of the Fae will not be denied. As with other stories I have written, the story that wants to be told will stomp its feet and hold its breath until I pay attention. Woe be to me when I do not!

As I have finally surrendered to this development, I have moved beyond researching Scottish folk tales and into the play of it. I ordered fairy houses and other delights for my new garden. I am enjoying The Faerie Handbook: An Enchanting Compendium of Literature, Lore, Art, Recipes, and Projects by the editors of Faerie Magazine (now called Enchanted Living). Yes, there is a magazine! Who knew? I’m also reading Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, filled with art and essays about the Fair Folk.

These new activities are activating something unusual in my ordinarily serious nature: delight. At 60, it appears I am finally reclaiming the joy of childhood.

Yesterday I added some text to Factory Girl where Jane sprouts wings for the first time. It was an extraordinary moment for me. Jane’s life is filled with challenges, and Factory Girl takes a hard look at life in industrial 19th-century Scotland. The magic of Factory Girl does not diminish the harsh realities or even make them easier to bear. Rather, it is about the curious thing that happens in our lives when great sorrow and great joy coexist side by side with each other.

Delight is not about ignoring the suffering of the world. It is about finding that which is beautiful so ugliness does not consume us. It is about finding joy that resides within us even when life is hard. It appears I still have much to learn from the Fae. I’m so looking forward to share with you what they are sharing with me!

Happy New Year!

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Hello to anyone who might be reading! It’s been so long since I blogged that I don’t know if anyone is still out there…but here I go anyway.

I don’t normally get too excited about a new year. I am not one for a list of resolutions. But this year I sprang out of bed with hope and joy. I’m not alone. As I cruise social media, I see a lot of posts where people are willing to entertain the thought that this can be a good year.

Last year I stumbled a bit. Though I kept on working on two different novels, I lost motivation to reach out consistently to readers. Part of it is my own life: we are moving cross-country yet again, and finally sold a house that’s been on the market for a long time. We are scheduled to close January 31, so the end is in sight.

Though I won’t get into politics in this blog, I also found myself depressed and deeply concerned about the state of our country. Regardless of what side of the political aisle we are on, we are ever more aware of the flaws in our system that must be addressed if we have the courage to do so. And that’s all I’m going to say, I promise. But in this past year we have also seen an energized electorate as people recognize that we must stay engaged…and that gives me hope.

Despite all of this, I continued to write, to do my work. I will write more about my projects in future posts. What I have learned is, whether or not there is a market for my books, I have to write. It’s how I do life. It’s how I stay reasonably sane.

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Thanks for reading, and happy new year!