Megan Mayhew Bergman

This collection of short stories from the author of Birds of a Lesser Paradise depicts the forgotten lives of women who almost achieved fame and notoriety, including Lord Byron's illegitimate daughter, Oscar Wilde's niece and Edna St. Vincent Milay's sister. 30,000 first printing.

Stories

Almost Famous Women

From a prizewinning, beloved young author, a provocative collection that explores the lives of colorful, intrepid women in history. “These stories linger in one’s memory long after reading them” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis). The fascinating characters in Megan Mayhew Bergman’s “collection of stories as beautiful and strange as the women who inspired them” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) are defined by their creative impulses, fierce independence, and sometimes reckless decisions. In “The Siege at Whale Cay,” cross-dressing Standard Oil heiress Joe Carstairs seduces Marlene Dietrich. In “A High-Grade Bitch Sits Down for Lunch,” aviator and writer Beryl Markham lives alone in Nairobi and engages in a battle of wills with a stallion. In “Hell-Diving Women,” the first integrated, all-girl swing band sparks a violent reaction in North Carolina. Other heroines, born in proximity to the spotlight, struggle to distinguish themselves: Lord Byron’s illegitimate daughter, Allegra; Oscar Wilde’s wild niece, Dolly; Edna St. Vincent Millay’s talented sister, Norma; James Joyce’s daughter, Lucia. Almost Famous Women offers an elegant and intimate look at artists who desired recognition. “By assiduously depicting their intimacy and power struggles, Bergman allows for a close examination of the multiplicity of women’s experiences” (The New York Times Book Review). The world wasn’t always kind to the women who star in these stories, but through Mayhew Bergman’s stunning imagination, they receive the attention they deserve. Almost Famous Women is “addictive and tantalizing, each story whetting our appetite for more” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).

Zahra

Personal favorites: Saving Butterfly McQueen, A High-Grade Bitch Sits Down For Lunch. Both of these stories left quite a deep impression on me. The rest were just as fascinating, however much less engaging.

Deborah Meades

I loved this collection of short stories about women who history has sidelined. I thought they were all very good ; my favourites being the sad story of Allegra, Lord Byron's daughter and the equally poignant story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar Wilde's niece. They have inspired me to find out more about these remarkable women of history. I also adore the art work on the book jacket, it is just beautiful.

Dearna Mulvaney

The Pretty, Grown-Together Children - 4.5
The Siege at Whale Clay - 3.5
Norma Millay’s Film Noir Period - 4.5
Romaine Remains - 4
Hazel Eaton and the Wall of Death - 3
The Autobiography of Allegra Byron - 4.5
Expression Theory - 2.5
Saving Butterfly McQueen - 4
Who Killed Dolly Wilde? - 4
A High-Grade Bitch Sits Down for Lunch - 3
The Internees - 4.5
The Lottery, Redux - 4
Hell-Driving Women - 5

Almost Famous Women Stories

Reviews