One of her brothers is the greatest English novelist of his time; another is inventing American psychology.The James family is famous in Boston and New York for its brilliance, eccentricity, and mesmerizing conversation. Alice James is no less remarkable than her brothers (Henry and William), but there is a problem: she is a girl. Her education has been haphazard, there are no colleges for women, and young ladies are expected to be Angels in the House. No one could be less suited to angelic domesticity than the tart-tongued, defiantly original Alice. She must chart her own course, but how?
Falling mysteriously ill while crossing the Atlantic at age 38, she becomes confined to her bed in a lodging house in provincial England. Thus begins her second life, when she recalls or redreams her life and struggles to make sense of it. How did her collapse begin? Was it “Father’s Ideas”? The night she drank absinthe and fell in love with a girl? The time William went to the asylum? The childhood years in Paris, when Father fired each of her governesses in turn? Was it the horrors of the Civil War, the erotic relations with the Temple cousins, the day Henry deserted her and sailed to Europe? Was it simply the oddness of “growing up James”?
Alice in Bed is an absorbing, poignant, sometimes hilarious journey through the Gilded Age with one of literature’s most unusual and captivating heroines.
Hardcover, 325 pages
Published October 13th 2015 by Counterpoint
Judith Hooper was an editor at Omni magazine and is the author of Of Moths and Men and co-author of The Three-Pound Universe and Would the Buddha Wear a Walkman?: A Catalogue of Revolutionary Tools for Higher Consciousness.
She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
click on the banner to take you to more stops on this tour
Giveaway
I have an extra print copy up for grabs as well as one digitial copy. Please note print copy mailed in Canada & US only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This sounds like a gem. I really look forward to reading about the interior life of a woman trapped in her bed but free to contemplate her life variously whatever impediments to pleasant mood might exist externally. I want to witness a character involved in deep rumination about herself and her history. Usually plot gets in the way of extensive introspection, and I have an appetite for that I think. Anyway, I owe you a debt of gratitude for making me aware of this reading opportunity.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of opportunities you are providing, I have entered the giveaway. FYI, I would take the digital copy first if it's Kindle compatible. I am also happy to take the print edition and live in the US. I want Alice in Bed so long as its legible and relatively unscathed, I'm a happy camper! Best wishes, Kara S
Thanks for this fascinating and intriguing giveaway which interests me greatly. I would appreciate a print copy very much. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteI like the twists in this storyline and the unfairness of how women were not allowed to get an education. I'm eager to find out if she ever go out of bed and went to get an education. Keeping my fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour!
ReplyDeleteI have had my eye on this book. I am mesmerized by books regarding strong women who were goal oriented during a time when that was not encouraged. They help me find inner strength because I have no excuse not to follow my dreams in today's society. Plus, Alice never gives up even though she is bedridden. I would be honored to win a copy of this book.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the giveaway :)