Found this small surprise in a roadside library, sucked me right in.
Most of us have fallen over movies and docos of Charles Lindbergh and his flying achievements, the tragedy of his first child being kidnapped and murdered, maybe his radical politics of the 1930s, but I've never bumped into "Mrs" Charles Lindbergh until now.
Anne Morrow was born in 1906, to a well-positioned dad, mum was a teacher and poet and big on women's education, and Anne had the best of schoolings, ran into Charles - already a big name in aviation - in Mexico where her dad was the US Ambassador at the time, got married in 1929.
You should read the whole Wiki thing for all of her back story (tag below) as their political leanings (and relationships!) are something of a surprise, but that's not what this deeply personal book is all about.
Only about 25k words long, this is a 1950s woman grappling with her inner life while on a secluded island "holiday" - sounds more like an escape - as she tries to make sense of her "place" and her role in her family, her marriage, and in society. And apparently she hit a chord with her female contemporaries as the book was a runaway success at the time, and for many reprints later. And I can see why - it's insightful, wise, deep, and sensitive. And well written.
This is a woman in her "middle" years - she would've been late 40s at the time - trying to "find" herself, to be her own, not just own female person, but her own whole person. The Feminist Movement was gaining momentum in those years after the war, especially in America, but this could just as easily have been written by a young mum in the 1970s, it has that ring about it, the desperate need to express herself completely.
And hey does she grapple with her inner conflicts, using a few shells that she picks up on her solitary and secluded walks each day to weave her thoughts around. But this is not some saintly person agonising over a life of domestic servitude as, best I can work out, when she wrote this she had just come out of a three year affair with her doctor (not that Charles Lindbergh was all sweetness and light!), so fair enough that she had some re-assessing to do.
Anyway, if you can find a copy, it's well worth reading.
Cheers....
T.R.E.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>