JULY 2015 - AudioFile
Liza Klaussmann offers a splendid roman à clef, reimagining the lives of Sara and Gerald Murphy, whose salons in the 1920s included such notable expats as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, and many other artists, writers, and celebrities of the period. Narrator Jennifer Woodward presents this fictional version of the Murphys with all their magic intact as they entertain at their home, Villa America, in Cap d’Antibes. Woodward’s genteel tones and girlish delight make the family’s bohemian existence and hedonism both carefree and urgently serious. Woodward’s performance highlights the Murphys’ marriage, which was fraught with Jazz Age intensity and the sense of ennui that permeated the Lost Generation. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
06/29/2015
Klaussmann’s second novel (after Tigers in Red Weather) chronicles a real-life couple whose titular villa was the nucleus of 1920s American social life. After an unconventional courtship that spans Gerald’s service in World War I, upper-crust Americans Sara and Gerald Murphy make their home at Cap d’Antibes in the south of France, where Gerald pursues an art career and their frequent summer parties on the Riviera draw much attention. Though Cole Porter, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and the Fitzgeralds are guests, the Murphys’ favorite is Owen Chambers, an attractive young cargo pilot from rural New England who becomes a fixture in Sara and Gerald’s guest house and a close confidant of both Murphys, but especially Gerald, whose relationship with Owen throws his entire life into a tailspin. Propelled by the drama-filled foibles of nearly every prominent lost generation figure a history buff could wish for, Klaussmann’s atmospheric prose contains a treasure trove of trivia for fans of the era. Though the central conflicts and emotions are relatively slow to emerge and seem a little buried under lavish descriptions of the Murphys’ opulent digs, readers who are looking for a trip back in time will find this an ideal beach read. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"Liza Klaussmann's VILLA AMERICA is so artful and compassionate that I couldn't fail to love the Murphys and everyone who fell into their orbit during those Lost Generation years, all of them fascinating and flawed and human. This is a beautifully rendered story."—Therese Anne Fowler, author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
"What a gorgeous and profoundly moving book. I've been obsessed with the Murphys since I was a young teen...and Liza Klaussmann's novel felt both like it was utterly 'true' to their legend and yet also new and vital. I can't wait for the whole world to get to read it."—Megan Abbott, author of The Fever
"Klaussmann is a magnificent storyteller. Luminous, rich and superbly plotted, VILLA AMERICA swept me up into the deeply human, beautifully drawn lives of the Murphys and their dazzling circles of friends and family. This novel moves at a gallop but I kept stopping to marvel at the subtlety, the grace and the firework prose. I absolutely loved it."—Priya Parmar, author of Vanessa and Her Sister
"Another sensitive fictional portrait of a complicated marriage from the author of Tigers in Red Weather.... Klaussmann makes good use of several fine biographies of the Murphys (cited in an author's note) to capture the magic of a privileged, bohemian existence.... Beautifully written and surprisingly fresh."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Tense, seductive fiction.... Impressively done."—Sunday Times (UK)
"Real-life figures of the jazz age throw parties on the French Riviera in this exhilarating blend of fact and fiction."—Lucy Scholes, Guardian
"Psychologically lush and gorgeously descriptive.... As disruptive love, betrayal, and cruel fate slowly gain cyclonic force, Klaussmann brings to scintillating and searing life scenes as wildly diverse as a dust storm, trench warfare, the bliss of being airborne above the radiant French countryside, the brittle gaiety of Sara's galas, and forbidden sexual bliss. In literary accord with Paula McLain, Nancy Horan, and Susan Vreeland, Klaussmann presents an enrapturing historical novel about a loving marriage complicated by suppressed desire in a time of now-legendary creative ferment."—Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
"Propelled by the drama-filled foibles of nearly every prominent lost generation figure a history buff could wish for, Klaussmann's atmospheric prose contains a treasure trove of trivia for fans of the era.... Readers who are looking for a trip back in time will find this an ideal beach read."—Publishers Weekly
"Intriguing and tender to the bone."—Kim Hubbard, People "Book of the Week"
"An enthralling read from the first page-an absolute must for anyone who loves Hemingway and Fitzgerald and all the rest of the Lost Generation."—Beatriz Williams, Serendipity
"Empathetic [and] beautifully written.... In Liza Klaussmann's skilled and sensitive new novel, the Murphys' famous sociability becomes intriguingly fraught, the expression of a loving, complicated marriage whose intricacies she investigates with the same emotional acumen displayed in her 2012 debut novel, Tigers in Red Weather."—Wendy Smith, Washington Post
"John Dos Passos, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, and their spouses come alive in this richly detailed tale of friendships, creative rivalry, romance, drunkenness, and tragedy.... This is an engrossing read, sure to be popular with lovers of historical fiction who enjoyed Paula McLain's The Paris Wife."—Elizabeth Safford, Library Journal (starred review)
"A vivid and affecting portrait of the couple and their raucous times, as well as one of the saddest, most romantic historical novels you'll read this year. 'A'"—Amy Wilkinson, Entertainment Weekly
"Klaussmann's prose, like her main characters, sparkles with exuberance."—Historical Novel Society
"The novel has many truly lovely moments.... Worth a read for fans of the era."—Shawna Seed, Dallas Morning News
"One of the summer's loveliest reads."—Sherryl Connelly, New York Daily News
"Very much a novel about marriage.... A tribute to [the Murphys'] effort to create a paradise as well as a sorrowful recognition of the impossibility of doing so."—Margaret Quamme, Columbus Dispatch
"Compelling...[a] wonderfully textured account of the lives of Sara and Gerald Murphy."—Sukey Howard, BookPage
Library Journal - Audio
03/01/2016
Gerald Murphy meets Sara Wiborg in East Hampton, NY, in the early 1900s. They decide to marry, despite parental disapproval. Although they expect they will live a life of genteel poverty, they go on to an opulent expatiate existence in a mansion they build on the French Riviera. They raise their three children while hosting parties for members of the Lost Generation—Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Dos Passos, and Picasso among them. The Murphys strive to give their children an idyllic upbringing without responsibility or conflict while managing the shifting crowd of volatile adults. The golden bubble surrounding the group slowly deflates in the aftermath of the American stock market crash of 1929. Klaussmann (Tigers in Red Weather) based this novel on the real-life characters in the Lost Generation circle. The story is nostalgic, and its message—nothing lasts forever—will resonate with many fans of historical fiction. Well read by Jennifer Woodward. VERDICT This book will appeal to listeners with an interest in the Lost Generation and life on the French Riviera of that time. ["This is an engrossing read, sure to be popular with lovers of historical fiction": LJ Xpress Reviews 8/7/15 starred review of the Little, Brown hc.]—Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence
Library Journal
02/01/2015
Former New York Times reporter Klaussmann delighted us with her 2012 debut, Tigers in Red Weather, about a post-World War II marital crisis with classy, sun-streaked Martha's Vineyard as backdrop. Here she ambitiously chooses to retell the glorious French Riviera days of Sara and Gerald Murphy, those joie de vivre expats whom F. Scott Fitzgerald immortalized in Tender Is the Night. Serious fun, and Klaussmann should pull it off; Tigers was an international best seller for which she won a British National Book Award and the Elle Grand Prix for Fiction, and she was named Amazon UK's Rising Star of the Year in 2012. With a 75,000-copy first printing.
JULY 2015 - AudioFile
Liza Klaussmann offers a splendid roman à clef, reimagining the lives of Sara and Gerald Murphy, whose salons in the 1920s included such notable expats as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, and many other artists, writers, and celebrities of the period. Narrator Jennifer Woodward presents this fictional version of the Murphys with all their magic intact as they entertain at their home, Villa America, in Cap d’Antibes. Woodward’s genteel tones and girlish delight make the family’s bohemian existence and hedonism both carefree and urgently serious. Woodward’s performance highlights the Murphys’ marriage, which was fraught with Jazz Age intensity and the sense of ennui that permeated the Lost Generation. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2015-04-30
Another sensitive fictional portrait of a complicated marriage from the author of Tigers in Red Weather (2012). This time Klaussmann has real-life models: Gerald and Sara Murphy, whose 1920s golden years on the French Riviera inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night. Her novel begins with Gerald's loveless childhood in 1890s Manhattan; a harrowing chapter about the loss of his adored dog lays the groundwork for his bond with Sara, first seen as a bored post-debutante in pre-World War I London. Their early love is touchingly depicted as shared desire for a life "entirely of our own creation," which is what they achieve at the eponymous Cap d'Antibes villa. Klaussmann makes good use of several fine biographies of the Murphys (cited in an author's note) to capture the magic of a privileged, bohemian existence dedicated to the pleasures of fine food and drink, friendship, and self-expression through the elegant, idiosyncratic clothes they wear and their beautiful home furnishings. She also draws on nonfictional references to Gerald's ambiguous sexuality to imagine a passionate affair with pilot Owen Chambers, an invented character. Down-to-earth Owen offers a reality check on the nonstop house parties with famous friends (Scott and Zelda, Ernest, Cole, and many more of the usual Lost Generation suspects): "The spectacle and the costumes…the endless conversations about ideas, and the misunderstandings. Could you live without that?" Owen asks. Probably not; Gerald remains devoted to Sara (who knows more than she will admit about him and Owen) and the world they've fashioned. Their son Patrick's struggle with tuberculosis brings an end to the halcyon days at Villa America. A welter of letters chronicling the Murphys' ordeal slightly blurs the novel's focus in later chapters but also testifies to the profound, enduring affection they prompted in all who knew them. A closing vignette poignantly revisits the couple in the heyday of their campaign to make life as beautiful as their dreams. Beautifully written and surprisingly fresh given the well-worn subject matter.
