Saratoga Trunk [Hardcover]

Edna Ferber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1986

The basis for the classic film starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, Saratoga Trunk unfolds the story of Clio Dulaine, an ambitious Creole beauty who more than meets her match in Clint Maroon, a handsome Texan with a head for business -- and an eye for beautiful young women. Together they do battle with Southern gentry and Eastern society, but in their obsession to acquire all they've ever wanted, they fail to realize they already have all they'll ever need -- each other.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The greatest American woman novelist of her day." -- --New York Times --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Edna Ferber (1885-1968) was a novelist, short-story writer, and playwright whose work served as the inspiration for numerous Broadway plays and Hollywood films, including Show Boat, Cimarron, Giant, Saratoga Trunk, and Ice Palace. She co-wrote the plays The Royal Family, Dinner at Eight, and Stage Door with George S. Kaufman and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1925 for her novel So Big.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Amereon Limited (June 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891903232
• ISBN-13: 978-0891903239
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #633,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love and Revenge Story, September 25, 2000

By 

mchenryed - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saratoga Trunk (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

Ferber tales the story of Clio Dulaine -- an illegitimate French girl who comes to New Orleans after residing in Paris for most of her life. The story is set in the mid 1800's. Clio and her entourage include: Kaka, a voodoo-like nurse maid and her colorful friend Cupide -- a dwarf. Clio's ultimately goal is to reveal to her upper class blood grandparents who she is and blackmail them.

Clio is successful at this but while scheming she falls in love with Clint Maroon -- a flamboyant cowboy from the rough country Texas. They clash with each other, but ultimately there is a bond. When the scheme with Clio's grandparents forces them to move on they decide to go to Saratoga, New York. Saratoga, at this period of time, was a vacation resort area where many rich people spent their time. Clio schemes for more money by chumming up with the plentiful, wealthy bachelors. However, her bond and feelings for Clint causes problems.

This story was interesting in the fact that it reveals what it must have been like to live in New Orleans at this period of time. In addition, Ferber paints a luxurious picture of the resort-like community of Saratoga. Clint is quite a character and the two of them complement one another (Clio reminded me of Scarlett O'Hara in many ways). While Clio was a hard one to like, the book does keep one interested. I felt Ferber's main point was that there may have been armed robberies and anarchy in the west at that period of time, but the east had its share of crime. Graft, economic warfare (even leading to violence), and greed nearly ruined the country. Overall, another interesting book that teaches something about the American social aspects of living in the middle/late 1800's.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Revenge, Money and love., October 30, 1999

By 

K. Michael (calif. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Saratoga Trunk (Hardcover)

This a tale of Clio Dulaine, a young woman who see's her mistress mother become an "ugly, broken hearted woman" by her father's wife. She goes to her old home town of New Orleans by seeking revenge for her mother's unhappiness and by ruining her dead father's wife's life by re-hashing the family scandal. While in New Orleans she meets a handsome Texan Cowboy, Clint Maroon. They have a stormy affair but she won't commit to him because she want's respectablity, comfort and money, something her mother did not have. Clint and Clio then go to Saratoga and meet Bart Van Steed, a millionaire, who owns railroads. She woo's Bart but all the time thinking of Clint. In the end Bart asks her to marry him but she sacrafices money and comfort to be with Clint.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing for its time, August 25, 2004

By 

Pablito Tortugita - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saratoga Trunk (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

_Saratoga Trunk_ tells a love story while evoking all the richness of three eras--Paris and New Orleans of the 1850s-1870s, the Gilded Age (or the Robber Baron period), and the early 20th century. It's the story of Clio Dulaine and Clint Maroon, who begin an unconventional relationship in an unforgettable scene bursting with detail.

That detail--immediate and sensory as well as historical and nuanced--makes the novel as effective as the best period romances, because it supports the excellent characterization to create a believable story from improbable elements (e.g., half-Black illegitimate girl educated in France, dwarf servant, cowboy dandy in New Orleans, they travel to Saratoga Springs in upstate New York and meet the movers and shakers of the Gilded Age, etc.).

Masterful prose--sparely elegant at times and incomparably lush at others--combined with sharply-drawn detail and fully rounded characters leads to a truly pleasurable experience. I completely recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a writer from the Golden Age of 20th-century American literature at the top of her form. Even _So Big_, for which the same author won a Pulitzer in 1924, is merely the equal of this novel.