DEAR MONICA LEWINSKY

A woman revisits a troubling chapter in her past with the help of Saint Monica Lewinsky.

“Monica Lewinsky was born in 1973 to a noble family of Jews living in the American Empire. She grew up a beautiful and spirited girl and was given a rare position as a servant to the emperor in the heart of the imperial palace.” Langbein’s second novel opens with a brief biography of Monica Lewinsky written in the style of Lives of the Saints; similar lives of real female saints are interspersed throughout this complex comic confection. Saint Monica is invoked as a prelude to the story of Jean Dornan, a 45-year-old translator working in New York City’s court system. Jean has begun to be overwhelmed by memories of an affair she had with a professor in the summer of 1998, the same year as Monica’s fateful tryst. Before she knows it, the desperate woman is in the presence of a beatific Saint Monica, who guides her through a detailed re-examination of the six weeks she spent in France at an intensive study program on medieval art at age 19, told through flashbacks. She and Monica occasionally comment on the unfolding action. For example, when Jean, an accomplished cook, has the opportunity to make dinner for the other students and professors, she chooses lasagna. In her hands, this pedestrian dish is “a hot sarcophagus of deliciousness” that completely blows everyone away. “You’re a fucking genius,” Monica declares. Jean’s culinary skills get the attention of the handsome young scholar who’s leading the program, and things unfold in the way they often did in that era. In retrospect, Jean can see what an ambitious and gifted young woman she was, finally understanding that the way the scholar eventually punished her for what happened between them warped the course of her life. The final section of the book delivers a satisfyingly mythic resolution, continuing to interweave art historical and religious tropes into the story on multiple levels. Like Jean’s lasagna, the novel succeeds beyond expectations, its bold, clever comedic lineaments supporting a serious and poignant examination of female desire and male power.

The best thing that’s happened in the crowded world of Lewinskiana in a long time.