Leave those books alone!

I was reading The New York Times one morning and came across an article by A.E. Hotchner, a friend of the late Ernest Hemingway, regarding a revised edition of A Moveable Feast. Apparently a Hemingway grandson didn't like how his grandmother (wife #2) was portrayed and claims that the book was put together by Hemingway's wife (#4) after his death. Hotchner asserts that he was with Hemingway in the late 1950's when he was presented with an old trunk he had left at the Ritz in Paris in the 1920s that contained notebooks full of his observations and thoughts. Hotchner says he even got to read the final draft of the manuscript before Hemingway's death so the assertion that it was hobbled together by Mary Hemingway is not true. It reminds me of another story recently in the news regarding a Swedish novelist using the protagonist from J.D. Salinger's famous novel, The Catcher in the Rye as an elderly character in his own novel. Salinger sued the author on the basis of copyright infringement and won. Not all authors are so lucky. I remember years ago when Margaret Mitchell's heirs hired author Alexandra Ripley (who had already made a name for herself writing her own novels) to write a sequel to Gone With the Wind. Mario Puzo's The Godfather was published in 1969. Puzo died in 1999 and his publisher had a contest in the earlier part of this decade to find an author to write two sequels. Later this summer another book will be published as a sequel to Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game. I believe it is the author's prerogative to write a sequel to their own work. If they felt that there was more to be done with their characters, they would have done so. I am not saying that these new books might not be any good (I don't read them on principle) but I think the authors in question should rely on their own creativity in coming up with characters and stories. Am I the only one who feels like these sequels and re-imaginings are cheating somehow? Writers and publishers seem to be cashing in on another writer's success by turning someone else's genuine creativity into a brand name under which to sell their own wares. Consider this: V.C. Andrews died in 1986 and has published more books since she died than she ever did while alive. Does this trend bother anyone else?

I Love Historical Family Sagas

I always enjoyed those books that followed several generations of a family like Sidney Sheldon's Master of the Game, the North and South Trilogy by John Jakes, and Princess Daisy by Judith Krantz. You don't see too many of these books nowadays. I was very happy to discover Penny Vincenzi's books several years ago. Vincenzi is a British author and her books have only been available in the United States for a few years now. The story of the Lytton Family begins in No Angel. It is 1904 and Lady Celia Beckenham, the daughter of an English aristocrat is determined to marry Oliver Lytton, the scion of Lyttons Publishing House. He is a commoner and Celia's parents are having none of it. Oliver loves Celia but is too honorable to pursue her against her family's wishes. Celia comes up with a plan to get her way. Soon she is pregnant and her parents reluctantly give her their blessing. Married life isn't as exciting as Celia thought it would be and motherhood soon loses its appeal. Celia is a bright young woman who wants to be more than women of her day were allowed. Her interest in the publishing business is rebuffed and she is encouraged to pursue charity work. Although it is against the rules, Celia befriends a young woman she meets through the charity. They are about the same age but this woman already has more children than she can handle and is expecting another one. Her husband is a drunk and often violent. In her misguided way, Celia wants to help the woman and offers to take in the little girl called Barty. A few years later, Celia's twin daughters are born. By taking Barty from her family, she would cause the girl to be in a kind of limbo. Because of Celia, Barty got to live in a big house, have nice clothes, good food and an education equal to any upper class girl but was never allowed to forget that she didn't really belong in that world. She would also face the resentment of her siblings who wondered why Barty got to be the lucky one. This conflict and its consequences will be fully explored in Something Dangerous.

World War I gives women like Celia a rare opportunity. The men were away at war and someone had to take over the jobs they left. Celia hires other talented women and together they keep the publishing house afloat. She is doomed to disappointment when the war is over and Oliver returns a changed man. He has been injured and is dismayed to see how much better Celia is at business than he had been. As soon as he is able, he takes his rightful place and fires all the women Celia had hired and worked with for years to make places for all the men returning from the war. In time, Celia is allowed back into the business, but their relationship has changed for the worst.

Celia woos a famous children's author to Lyttons and works closely with him. They soon begin an affair. Celia is stuck in a loveless marriage but knows that leaving Oliver is not an option. She finds herself pregnant with her lover's child and is advised by her mother of all people to make her husband think it is his. Oliver has long since been cowed by Celia and if he suspects anything, he doesn't let on. She ends the affair and makes the best of things with Oliver. The book ends with the birth of her son Kitt.

Something Dangerous is the story of Celia's twin girls and Barty through World War II and Into Temptation is the story of the family in the aftermath of Celia's death and also Barty's daughter Jenna.