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ONE OF THE FAMILY

Name: ONE OF THE FAMILY
Author: Wendy W. Fairey
ISBN: 0-393-03093-8

by Wendy W. Fairey ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1992

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Fairey's primary (and mild) claim to fame is that her mother was Sheilah Graham, Hollywood gossip columnist and lover of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The interest of this rich memoir, however, is not in its celebrity cast, but in its reflections on the heritage of parents, biological and otherwise. Growing up in Beverly Hills, young Fairey knew that her ostensible father was a virtual stranger who lived overseas and sent monogrammed handkerchiefs every Christmas. Her first brush with a father substitute came when her mother married a football coach nicknamed ``Bow Wow''; Fairey, then ten, hated him. Then her mother began a book detailing her relationship with Fitzgerald, and the flurry of nostalgic obsession caused Fairey to identify the dead author as an intellectual progenitor. But it was not until the aftermath of her mother's death, when Fairey was 46, that she learned that her biological father was in fact famous British philosopher A.J. (``Freddie'') Ayer. Accepting this meant acknowledging that her mother had lied to her all her life. On receiving a letter from Ayer confirming his paternity, Fairey says, ``I felt rescued from my old life...transfigured by Freddie's acknowledgement into someone new and better.'' A London visit with Ayer preceding his death produced for Fairey glimmers of belonging and pangs of loss for not having shared her father's life. Fairey deftly and exhaustively probes her lifelong struggle with a charming but selfish mother, and the effects her parade of fathers had on her sense of self. A graceful and moving personal examination. (Photographs.)

Pub Date: April 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-393-03093-8

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.