Elizabeth Forsythe HaileyRecensioni

At the turn of the century, a time when women had few choices, Bess Steed Garner inherits a legacy–not only of wealth but of determination and desire, making her truly a woman of independent means. We accompany Bess as she endures life's trials and triumphs with the will to defy a society that demands conformity.

Easy to read (almost read whole book on long coach trip home) but well-written and engrossing epistolary novel. All the letters emanate from an imagined correspondence of her late grandmother ...to friends and relatives...which give the story of her whole life.From her first marriage.....the children, the heartbreaks, business success..and failure...through a second marriage, an unexplored infatuation, bust ups, bereavements...
The most meaningful bit for me was her later life: a husband with dementia, her children with their own lives; the inability to indulge in holidays etc any longer, a preoccupation with death.
"I look around at how few of my friends are left. We are like the survivors of some terrible storm. The quality of life can no longer concern us. For the moment it is enough just to exist."

Novel·la epistolar, molt aconseguida. Dibuixa molt bé el personatge central i una època... entre persones de classe alta americana. Sorprèn la facilitat amb què es mouen pels diferents estats, i fins i tot a Europa, tot i que això forma part de la personalitat de la protagonista i de la seva situació econòmica: una dona amb molta empenta, amb un gran sentit de família, però sense oblidar un deure de contribució a la societat. A la vegada, ens va recordant una filosofia de vida: valorar el que tenim!

És una lectura entretinguda però no només això.½

Home free by Hailey_ Elizabeth Forsythe
Kate and her husband, Cliff after 25 years of marriage are splitting up. She will get the house in CA. Nina their daughter is leaving for college.
The car breaks down, Ford is his name and she invites him into her house and lets him use her husbands bathroom and clothes. She hears his story of how they traveled across the US and can't find a home so he puts his wife and children in a woman's homeless shelter so the children can attend school.
He has a sign that says he will work for money in hopes he can make enough to rent an apartment for them all. Kate gives him the Christmas gifts meant for her husband and other gifts for his wife. Alternating chapters of how each is coping with their circumstances.
At times it's confusing to figure out if they're in the past or the present as she talks to her family members and you realize it's the past.
His wife thinks she's just using her husband for her own gain as she's lonely without her daughter and her soon to be ex husband.
So much changes for them all as they continue to live and work. She becomes pregnant and that causes them to come together...
Love how everything that's happened and changed Kate's outlook on life and what she wants to do with the money from the sale of her house.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

My Mother recommended this book, saying it reminded her of her own Mother. I didn't see the similarity between my grandmother and the protagonist aside from the fact that they were both strong-willed and lived through the same years but the book was good. Written as a series of letters over the years of her life, the book is a realistic, nostalgic view of that life.

ok novel 3 college girls, 42 yr old mother

A woman who encounters tragedy unexpectedly has two choices. She can spend her life mourning. . .or she she can learn to live again. The choice Lindsay Howard made after her young husband's accident would outrage some people and inspire others. But it was only after a shocking crime left her facing a first pregnancy at forty-two, that this dynamic Manhattan career woman made a daring decision. What she planned couldn't be done alone. Now she would ask the two friends who were closer than family for something that would test the limits of passion, commitment, and love.

A comienzos del siglo xx, cuando la independencia de las mujeres era todavía muy relativa, Bess Steed es ya una mujer de armas tomar: una joven llena de voluntad y ambición que,además, acaba de recibir una pequeña herencia. La novela narra la vida de Bess desde principios de siglo hasta la década de los sesenta a través de la correspondencia a distintos destinatarios a lo largo de los años.

"¿Quién dijo que la estabilidad es imprescindible para la buena marcha de una familia? Los niños crecen con los cambios y es innegable que se adaptan a las circunstancias nuevas con mucha más facilidad que los mayores."
"Ahora sé que no podemos confiar en la historia para encontrar motivos de orgullo por ser quienes somos. Eso tiene que hacerlo cada cual. Supongo que debería alegrarme de saber la verdad cuando todavía me queda tanta vida por delante."

The story of a marriage told in an interesting way. Starting in 1959, Joanna keeps a diary of her marriage thoughts, and now - 24 years later, she's left the diaries for her daughter Julia to read. But before that happens, David, her husband reads the entries and adds his own perspective on what happened and what he thought to most of them. So you get the story of the marriage from two different perspectives. I wonder what is more real? Writing about the marriage as it happens, or looking back on it 24 years later and trying to make sense of it?½

One of the things I liked about this book was the journal format. Joanna left David and left her journal behind. He reads it in an effort to understand what is happening and decides to make his own comments on her take on events. I don't agree with reading anyone's journal regardless of circumstances, but it makes for good reading.

It is VERY hard to read this book and not think that you are reading actual letters that the author's grandmother had written. In fact, in the introduction to the edition that I have, Hailey shares an experience with an old firend of her grandmother's during which the friend was SURE that the real "Bess" had catalogued her own correspondence during her life. Exclusively in the form of written correspondence, the plot is advanced at a pace that is neither too fast or too slow. Especially enjoyable are the "clues" the author gives the reader as to future events, events which Bess is apparently unable to foresee; perhaps without the necessary distance, as she is "writing" in real time. We can glean what is around the corner and begin to try anticipate Bess' reaction. Even with this, there are some real surprises, both to the narrator and the reader.

delightfully reflective in a wonderful format that drew me in and inspired me on several levels.

So, I am at my friend Heather's house for a Christmas party for all of us who had been in the same Hospice Grief Group this year. It was so much fun laughing and giggling with these girls who have become like a second family to me. We all went through the same thing at the same time- losing a parent- and that brings you together like little else can.

Well, while I knew Heather liked to read and she was writing a book about her mother, I had no idea just how MUCH she liked to read. She had several bookcases of books, plus she told me boxes downstairs. I instantly loved her even more. She picked up a book called A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. I had heard of the book but never read it. When Heather learned this, she put the book in my hands and said read this book. It is my favorite.

So, after I finished reading Thousand Pieces of Gold, I picked up this book to read. And I LOVED it. I seriously, completely, adoringly love this book. I have to go get myself my own copy.

This book, first published in 1978, is based partially off of Hailey's grandmother and partially based off of the feminist movement of the 1970s. The heroine, Elizabeth, called Bess, was born in 1890 and inherited a legacy- of both wealth and of a spirit full of determination, ambition, and a passion for life. The book is written in an epistolary format, as letters from Bess to all of the loved ones in her life. From Bess' letters the reader gathers all the information they need. Bess goes through trials in her life that could knock even a strong woman down- yet Bess is determined to prevail. The reader witnesses Bess go from a simple grade-school girl to a devoted wife and mother to a self-sufficient, courageous woman with an open mind and a willing soul.

I learned so many life lessons from this book. Bess taught me so much about how to love an independent spirit and how to become more of an independent woman myself. What could be a greater gift from a book than to show you a reflection of yourself? The language was charming, classy, and enthralling. I was drawn into the story and always wanted to know what happened to Bess next and what choice she would decide to make. I wanted to see where she would go abroad next, who she would decide to write to next and why, I wanted to see what choices she made at every turn of her life, from her daughter getting hit by a car to her decisions to invest in the stock market and be in control of her finances to how she related to those around her, whether a childhood friend or her mother-in-law.

Bess fascinated me and I had to close the book last night so I wouldn't finish it until today. I didn't want to leave Bess. I loved how completely capable she was, how socially adept, how open-minded she is to others different from herself (she even gets her "colored" housekeeper into her exclusive Dallas Shakespeare Club when she realizes how well-versed in Shakespeare she is and wants to support her in this.) I loved almost everything about Bess. She did have kind of a wondering eye, if nothing else, and she was more than a little stubborn, but she did own her responsibilities and she owned her mistakes.

I really recommend this book to women everywhere. If you haven't read it, run over to your library or bookstore and read this book! I can hardly wait to hear what you think of it, too.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES (although there are many more):

"I am always amazed to hear people say the first weeks or months of marriage are the best and then, 'the honeymoon is over.' Of course I thought I loved you with all my heart when we were married, but it took marriage to teach me the outer limits of my anatomy, both physical and spiritual, and now I know that every moment we share further increases my capacity for love." (to her husband, Rob, in 1917)

"I see now how much of what a man becomes is due to the woman at his side. A life can go in so many different directions and though a man may be the captain of his soul, he needs a good navigator at his side if he dares sail into uncharted seas." (to her father and stepmother, in 1919)

"Our parents- and the older generation they represent- provide a barrier against death, and when both of them are gone, as both of mine are now, there is nothing between us and our own mortality. Now it is my turn to stand as a shield between my children and the enemy." (to her sister-in-law, in 1922)

"Nature as a process provides for no growth past physical maturity. Only the individual, through an effort of will and imagination, can add, enhance, enrich. Life unresisted merely subtracts. I no longer believe an individual can change the fate of other people, no matter how much she loves them, but I will not relinquish the responsibility for my own life until the day I die." (to a friend, in 1942)

" J'ai le coeur gros- a French expression to denote a heart swollen with emotion." (in a letter to friends, in 1967)

story of a wealthy woman's travels

After listening to the book on tape so many years ago and loving it, I thought it was time to read it myself! The letters in this book are amazing! I wish our children would learn to write like this! The letters take place from the early 1900s through the 1960s and take you through the ups and downs of her life. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy reading this book nearly as much as I enjoyed listening to it.

Would not recommend at all

Two views of a troubled marriage--the wife's diary and the husband's comments on its entries. A unique way of presenting a fascinating story. Married twenty-five years and clueless, the husband finds the diary when his wife leaves him.
To be honest as I read it, I wondered how my own husband would respond to MY version of our lives. It was a fascinating read.