Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Gatsby's Girl
Gatsby's Girl | Caroline Preston
4 posts | 6 read | 13 to read
Just as Jay Gatsby was haunted by Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fizgerald was haunted by his own great first love a Chicago socialite named Ginevra. Alluring, capricious, and ultimately unavailable, she would become his first muse, the inspiration for such timeless characters as Gatsby's Daisy and Isabelle Borge in This Side of Paradise. Caroline Preston's astute perceptions of her characters and the cultural landscapes they inhabit have earned her work comparisons to to that of Anne Tyler, Alison Lurie, and Diane Johnson. Now, in this richly imagined and ambitious novel, Preston deftly evokes the entire sweep of Ginevra's life from her first meeting with Scott to the second act of her sometimes charmed, sometimes troubled life. Ginevra was sixteen, a rich mans daughter who had been told she was pretty far too often for her own good. Scott was nineteen, a poor boy full of ambition. They met at a country club dance in St. Paul, Minnesota, in January 1916. For almost a year they wrote each other letters so long, breathless, and yearning that they often required more than one envelope. But despite their intense epistolary romance, the relationship wouldnt last. After throwing him over with what he deemed supreme boredom and indifference, she impulsively married a handsome aviator from the right society background. Ruminating over what might have been had she picked the writer instead of the flier, she furtively reads the now famous Fitzgeralds work. When she sees herself much to her surprise in his characters, its not just as the spoiled debutante hed known; hes also uncannily predicted the woman shes become, cracks and all. An affecting story of two people, one famous, one known only through her portrayals in enduring works of fiction, Gatsbys Girl is a tremendously entertaining and moving novel about the powerful forces of first love, memory, and art.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
review
JenlovesJT47
Gatsby's Girl | Caroline Preston
post image
Pickpick

This is the historical fiction account of F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s first love, Ginevra. They meet in 1916 when she is 16 and start an avid correspondence. Ginevra is an interesting character, and the book takes us through her growth as a person: spoiled, shallow rich girl, naive young wife and mother who neglects her husband and children, to divorcée who finally realizes what‘s important in life and gets a second chance at love. 4⭐️ ⬇️

JenlovesJT47 There‘s an air of sadness about this story, especially regarding Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, not to mention all of Ginevra‘s missed opportunities. But there‘s a lot of truth to it. I‘d highly recommend this to fans of the Jazz Age, historical fiction and/or the Fitzgeralds. #historicalfiction 5y
Crazeedi Didn't know he was involved with someone before Zelda, I'll have to read this! 5y
JenlovesJT47 @Crazeedi neither did I! It‘s pretty cool. She was 16 and he was 19. So fun to read about how things were back then! 5y
79 likes4 stack adds3 comments
blurb
actualdisneyprincess
Gatsby's Girl | Caroline Preston
post image

I'm not really sure how I feel about this yet, but all things Gatsby and Fitzgerald are my Achilles heel. #gatsbysgirl #carolinepreston

blurb
ValerieAndBooks
Gatsby's Girl | Caroline Preston
post image

#girlinthetitle I don't think this one has been mentioned yet for today's prompt. It's historical fiction about Scott Fitzgerald's first love, Ginevra. She was actually a girl (16 years old) when they first met. I liked this well enough when I read it about 10 years ago, so I'll go ahead and rate it as a "pick".

rubyslippersreads That cover! 😍📚😍 8y
ValerieAndBooks @rubyslippersreads it is nice isn't it 😍?! 8y
68 likes6 stack adds2 comments
quote
stephanielialia
Gatsby's Girl | Caroline Preston
post image

Why don't you try to find pleasures in the life you've got rather than the life you haven't