First Nights [Mass Market Paperback]

Susan Fromberg Schaeffer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 1994

"Beautifully and gracefully written . . . delightful to read." The New York Times Book Review.
The breathtaking tale of two women -- legendary screen goddess Anna Asta and her trusted friend and housekeeper, Ivy Cook. Their youth long behind them, Anna and Ivy tell each other their stories, rearranging the events of the past, reevaluating them, until finally -- together -- they find the one story that lies beneath the apparently patternless chaos of their lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This well-crafted novel from the author of Anya is based on the lives of actress Greta Garbo and her companion/maid.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This big, beautiful, hulking work is a sort of novelistic counterpart to an iceberg. Anna Asta is an ancient, reclusive film star living in Manhattan with Ivy Cook, her Caribbean-born maid. In alternating sections, they each recount their histories in their own unique voices. Anna is a close approximation of Greta Garbo, and, as in her previous novels (most recently Buffalo Afternoon , LJ 4/1/89), Schaeffer's careful research comes splendidly alive as she takes us from Sweden to MGM. Meanwhile, Ivy recalls her hard childhood, the beauty and magic of her native island, a marriage that fails, and emigration to Brooklyn. At times the leisurely, circular, repetitive storytelling of both the women can feel claustrophobic. Yet it is this slow accumulation of details and the layering of stories that allow for two such complex and unforgettable lives to emerge with such power. For all fiction collections.
- Brian Kenney, Brooklyn
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Ivy Books (July 2, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804107289
• ISBN-13: 978-0804107280
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,173,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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