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Summary
Summary
"Jillian Cantor beautifully re-crafts an American classic in Beautiful Little Fools, placing the women of The Great Gatsby center stage: more than merely beautiful, not so little as the men in their lives assume, and certainly far from foolish. Both fresh and familiar, this page-turner is one to savor!" --Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code
"Jillian Cantor's shifting kaleidoscope of female perspectives makes F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale of Jazz Age longing and lust feel utterly modern. A breathtaking accomplishment."--Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue
USA Today bestselling author Jillian Cantor reimagines and expands on the literary classic The Great Gatsby in this atmospheric historical novel with echoes of Big Little Lies, told in three women's alternating voices.
On a sultry August day in 1922, Jay Gatsby is shot dead in his West Egg swimming pool. To the police, it appears to be an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide when the body of George Wilson, a local mechanic, is found in the woods nearby.
Then a diamond hairpin is discovered in the bushes by the pool, and three women fall under suspicion. Each holds a key that can unlock the truth to the mysterious life and death of this enigmatic millionaire.
Daisy Buchanan once thought she might marry Gatsby--before her family was torn apart by an unspeakable tragedy that sent her into the arms of the philandering Tom Buchanan.
Jordan Baker, Daisy's best friend, guards a secret that derailed her promising golf career and threatens to ruin her friendship with Daisy as well.
Catherine McCoy, a suffragette, fights for women's freedom and independence, and especially for her sister, Myrtle Wilson, who's trapped in a terrible marriage.
Their stories unfold in the years leading up to that fateful summer of 1922, when all three of their lives are on the brink of unraveling. Each woman is pulled deeper into Jay Gatsby's romantic obsession, with devastating consequences for all of them.
Jillian Cantor revisits the glittering Jazz Age world of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, retelling this timeless American classic from the women's perspective. Beautiful Little Fools is a quintessential tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately the murder of a man tormented by the past and driven by a destructive longing that can never be fulfilled.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Cantor (Half Life) succeeds brilliantly with this audacious revisionist murder mystery featuring characters from The Great Gatsby. In Fitzgerald's version, it was George Wilson who killed Jay Gatsby. Here, Cantor imagines a woman shooting Gatsby in "heat...anger...and...madness." Three women figure prominently in the narrative. There's "careless, carefree" Daisy Buchanan from Louisville, Ky., who "wanted to be someone who mattered"; her ambitious, sporty childhood best friend, Jordan Baker, who is embroiled in a women's golf circuit scandal; and Catherine McCoy, who leaves the family farm for New York City, where she works for the National Women's League, attends suffrage meetings, and worries about the bruises on her sister. Cantor successfully captures the style and tone of the 1925 novel with vivid details, such as Daisy's "lavish honeymoon in the South Seas"; a life of luxury in Santa Barbara, Calif.; a Cannes chateau; and the ultimate extravagances of East Egg. Also featuring into the story is Det. Frank Charles, who believes everyone he interrogates about Gatsby's death is an "incurable liar." Loneliness, homesickness, and the "forever endless winding river" of grief pursue Daisy as justice is served. Proving once again that it is "hard to forget the past," Cantor's admirably convincing act of literary skullduggery offers many rewards. Agent: Jessica Regal, Foundry Media. (Jan.)
Kirkus Review
Several women involved with Jay Gatsby would like to set the record straight. Using The Great Gatsbyas a springboard, Cantor gives voice to that novel's female characters as they provide their recollections and interpretations of the events leading up to the murder of one of American fiction's most enigmatic characters. Gatsby's original narrator, Nick Carraway, swaps his role as narrator for one as a character. The storytelling here is done by Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Catherine McCoy (in a promotion from her small original role as the doomed Myrtle Wilson's sister). Even Myrtle is heard from, however briefly. As Detective Frank Charles--who harbors the secrets and heartaches which so often haunt the lonely detective of mystery novels--untangles the stories told to him by the women who survive Gatsby, the whodunit aspects of the refocused version of Fitzgerald's rags-to-riches saga gain momentum. Daisy's motives for marrying (and staying with) the boorish Tom Buchanan are cast in a new light, as is the backstory shadowing Jordan Baker. Gatsby himself is less of a cipher now that the women are getting their say. Cantor's title borrows from Daisy's remark, from Fitzgerald's original and echoed here, when she was informed her baby was a girl: "a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." (Sadly, the phrase "a beautiful little fool" is reported to have been what Zelda Fitzgerald uttered when told she had borne a daughter.) Less glittering and lyrical than the original, this Gatsbyretelling reveals more about the women in the story by casting them as humans, not decorative baubles. Cantor asks and answers: Who were the real fools in Gatsby's world? Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
"That's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool," says Daisy in The Great Gatsby. Cantor reframes Fitzgerald's masterpiece through the perspectives of its women, Daisy, her friend Jordan Baker, and Catherine (sister to Daisy's husband's mistress). Avoiding spoilers for the original and this derivative, here's the plot: Daisy Fay, a Louisville socialite, has a torrid romance with Jay Gatsby, a penniless soldier, before he ships off to WWI. She doesn't wait for him, instead marrying fabulously wealthy polo player and serial philanderer Tom Buchanan. Years later, Gatsby has built a fortune for one purpose, recapturing what he believed he had with Daisy. Cantor rewrites elements of the tale, giving Jordan Baker a "secret" that could destroy her, Daisy a familial backstory that influences her actions, and Catherine a behind-the-scenes role. Unlike the original destructive, self-absorbed characters and the pervasive issue of class, Cantor focuses instead on portraying Daisy and her fellow females in a sympathetic light, reimagining and empowering them to speak to readers with a feminist bent.
Library Journal Review
The women closest to the late Jay Gatsby finally have their say in Cantor's (The Lost Letter; Margot) retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's literary classic, The Great Gatsby. It begins with Gatsby lying dead and the women in his life being questioned about their connections to the young New England millionaire by the detective in charge of investigating Gatsby's murder. Daisy Buchanan may have loved Gatsby as a young woman in Kentucky during the war, but she has moved on now and is trying to save her troubled marriage to Tom Buchanan. Cantor's Daisy still loves Tom, despite his affairs, and wants their marriage to work for the sake of herself and their young daughter. Jordan Baker, Daisy's confidante and childhood friend, is pursuing her own passions, which include professional golf and a forbidden lifestyle. And suffragette Catherine McCoy, who remained Gatsby's friend after their brief romantic relationship, has unknowingly helped Gatsby--while he was still alive--use her sister Myrtle to get close to Tom Buchanan and further erode Daisy's marriage. The audiobook of Cantor's historical novel is narrated by Cassandra Campbell, Elizabeth Evans, George Newbern Brittany Pressley, and Julia Whelan, who deliver the perfect amount of subtlety as they read for characters based in New England and the American South. VERDICT Cantor's is an engaging and well-written reimagining of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of women of differing backgrounds and social classes in a 1920s United States.--Laura Brosie
