Phyllis Ayame Whitney (1903 – 2008) was an American mystery writer. Rare for her genre, she wrote mysteries for both the juvenile and the adult markets, many of which feature exotic locations. A review in The New York Times once dubbed her "The Queen of the American Gothics".
She was born in Japan to American parents and spent her early years in Asia. Whitney wrote more than seventy novels. In 1961, her book The Mystery of the Haunted Pool won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Juvenile novel, and she duplicated the honor in 1964, for The Mystery of the Hidden Hand. In 1988, the MWA gave her a Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. Whitney died of pneumonia on February 8, 2008, aged 104.
This is a great example of the kind of older book that I often like to read that isn't necessarily a gripping story, but makes for fascinating social history. Published in 1956, the book follows Lisa, an idealistic recent college graduate, who, after a sight-seeing visit to the United Nations develops a passionate desire to become a UN tour guide. The book is filled with a rosy optimism about the future of international cooperation that, sadly, seems almost touching now. Meeting and getting to know and value her fellow guides, young women from all over the world, Lisa is a staunch believer in the power of the UN to bring the world at least somewhat closer to peace, and does her best to impart this view on her tours. Sometimes she has to contend with opposing views, such as when she meets a rich industrialist (the father of a love interest) who grumbles about why the US should bother with other nations and uses the phrase "America first," but she never backs down nor does she lose her poise and gracious manners.
The story-line involves Lisa's attempt to build an identity separate from her father, who is a famous radio broadcaster, and a love-triangle involving another guide and a young man working at the UN starting a career as a (no doubt eventually famous) radio broadcaster. I was only mildly interested in how everything would turn out, but I enjoyed the local color, and the interactions Lisa has with Margie, her more down-to earth and cynical roommate who works behind a cosmetics counter, as well as the comic relief provided by the lively family of three girls across the hall in their apartment building. I was taken aback by how often the characters pause to admire the UN's architecture. Perhaps blank featureless rectangles seemed beautifully elegant in the 50s?
It gave me pause, as I was reading, to realize that I have lived in New York City for almost twenty-five years, and never once prior to reading this book did the thought of making a sight-seeing excursion to the UN cross my mind. I'm quite tempted by the idea now, if only to compare the experience of a present-day tour with what is depicted in the book, and to see if just maybe I get stirred up with idealistic thoughts about international cooperation. It would be a refreshing change!
Phyllis A. Whitney spent a lot of time with UN tour guides as part of her research for this book, and is pictured with some of them on the back cover (I would most like to friends with the Canadian girl on the right, also named Phyllis). Whitney also thanks some of the guides by name in her acknowledgments, and the copy that I own is signed and warmly inscribed to one of these: "To Joy, my ideal of a U.N. guide. With sincere gratitude for your help, advice and interest. Affectionately, Phyllis A. Whitney." I've tried googling Joy (whose last name I've left out) wondering what became of her, and if she might want the book back if she's still alive or if her children might, but I didn't find her.
I once saw an interview in which Academy Award winning actor Michael Douglas was asked what it was like to grow up with a famous father. For Douglas, the experience was not without its challenges, yet he recognized, perhaps in hindsight, that his father Kirk always encouraged him to make his own way, his own mark in his life and his career. Michael summed it up this way:
“I don’t think my father ever missed any of my college productions. He was continually supportive and helped a son step out of his shadow. Dad, I’m eternally grateful to you for that.”
It was in the very first pages of “The Highest Dream” that we see our heroine, Lisa Somers in a desperate attempt to break free from the expectations of her famous father Reid Somers, a well-known world affairs radio commentator and writer. Lisa was all too aware of the power her dad’s career had to affect the lives around him. The author, Phyllis Whitney did a fine job of capturing Lisa’s thoughts on this subject:
“She had no wish to hurt or disappoint her parents, but there ought to be some way in which she could have a life of her own that would have nothing to do with radio. If she didn’t find the answer soon, the very momentum of her father’s work would catch her up, bear her along in its furious current.”
Lisa was at a crossroads, with only one year of college left, the closer she came to graduation, the stronger the assumption that she would allow her father to pull the strings to set her up in a career in his field. Lisa’s mother’s perspective would also be an obstacle to her independence. Katherine Somers possessed many of the characteristics of a wonderful mother, she was youthful, understanding and had an “unruffled quality” about her, but for Lisa, now a young woman, her mother’s calm, ordered demeanor was beginning to “fence her in.” Lisa always admired her mom’s choice to make her father’s work her own and the way in which the ever present demands of Reid’s professional life “ordered” her mother’s existence. As a girl, the security of this arrangement was a positive aspect of the Somers’ household, but as she developed into an adult that which was once admirable was beginning to become confining.
It is in the early pages of the book that Whitney does an excellent job of alluding to Lisa’s mom’s sense of “order” and its hold on Lisa’s life. It is a scene in which Lisa and Katherine are walking toward the front entrance of the United Nations Building in New York City. Katherine is doing an interview for her husband who is working on a new book about the United Nations and was unavailable to do the interview himself. Lisa, meanwhile is interested in taking a tour of the UN Buildings, something she’s wanted to do ever since she watched one of her father’s broadcasts that featured the way the UN played host to the world with tours conducted by trained guides. Her father made the tour sound so intriguing she couldn’t wait to take it. Mother and daughter are nearing the front entrance of the grand building, the daughter reflecting on her mom’s ordered life just as she sees the following image:
“The windowless flat side of the building made a white backdrop for the curving line of staffs whose colorful flags whipped sharply in the wind. These, Lisa knew, were the flags of the Member nations, and beyond them, rising higher than any other on this international ground, flew the blue flag, with its white emblem of the world and olive wreath that was the symbol of the United Nations. It was good to see the flag of the United States of America flying in its alphabetical place, one with the others.
For me, this struck me not only as a powerful aspect of the scene, but also symbolic of the Somers family dynamic. Reid Somers is the large flag rising higher, her mother Katherine symbolized by the ordered row of flags, thoughtfully placed in alphabetical order.
Lisa takes the tour and as she and the small group are guided along she quickly realizes how much she is enjoying herself. She finds herself engaged in a number of ways:
She asks intelligent questions: “But isn’t there a way now of getting around the veto?” She inquires of the tour guide as they are lead into the Council Chamber.
The group is led into the offices of UNICEF and the Children’s Fund. There she hears the guide providing facts about the work of the Children’s Fund. “If all the glasses of milk the Fund has given to children of the world were placed side by side, they would go around the earth five time.” Lisa finds herself inspired by the power of this statistic, but even more so by the heartfelt way the guide shared it.
She enters the auditorium of the General Assembly and finds herself in awe of its grandness, almost as if she’d entered a cathedral.
By the end of the tour she feels invigorated and suddenly comes up with a thought. She would like to pursue the opportunity of becoming a United Nations Guide herself. Her rationale at this point would be that it would serve two purposes, one to give her an opportunity to do something completely outside of her family business, radio media. And secondly, it would give her a chance to do the kind of work she could get very passionate about. She asks the guide where she could go to inquire about being a guide and is directed to the UN’s Department of Public Information, which was where the Guide Service was located.
Lisa enters the office, explains to the receptionist that she’s interested in exploring the job opportunity of UN Guide, but that she’s only in New York for the day. Much to her pleasant surprise, the receptionist locates Mrs. Warren, the Guide Director’s assistant, who grants her a short interview. Mrs. Warren informs Lisa that the tenure of a UN Guide is no less than one year, no more than two, candidates must be twenty years of age and those who can speak more than one language are preferred. Lisa is also informed that a political science background was helpful and that the UN Guide Office only hired so many Americans due to the fact that they wanted a diverse workforce of people from nations all around the world. Lisa was thinking as Mrs. Warren was speaking, as an applicant, she had a number of disadvantages: firstly, she was American, and the UN received a high quantity of applications from citizens of the USA. Secondly, she was unilingual, competing with many bilingual candidates. Thirdly, she was only nineteen years of age and had one year of college remaining. But despite these disadvantages, she sensed that the job would be a great fit for her - she was eager to apply.
She knew she had to make a memorable impression before leaving, it was in that moment that she made a decision.
British-American author Simon Sinek said something that fit well with Lisa’s decision point. He said:
“There is no decision that we can make that doesn’t come with some sort of balance or sacrifice.”
For Lisa the “sacrifice” was dropping her father’s name even though she desperately wanted to get this job on her own. Even though she disliked telling Mrs. Warren who she was, her desire to get the job and have the experience overrode her reluctance.
“Reid Somer’s daughter!” Mrs. Warren raved, convincing Lisa that she made the right decision even though it deflated her a bit. She also noticed how Mrs. Warren was sure to remind Lisa of her advantages once she’d learned of her family connections. “Well, I would think you have the background” she began, “You’re very persuasive, Miss Somers. And we like girls who can be enthusiastic. You have a good voice too.” She then handed Lisa a blank application form and told her that she could submit it and see what would happen.
As she left the Guide Office, Lisa bumped into her mom, she’d just finished her interview and asked Lisa how the tour went. Lisa told her how much she enjoyed it and surprised her mother by informing her that she’d inquired about being a UN Guide. To Lisa’s delight her mom was agreeable to advocating for this plan with Lisa’s father with the provision that there was to be no “Living alone in New York” meaning that Lisa was to secure a place of living that with another responsible person and preferably one located near the United Nations.
They arrive back home and Katherine was good to her word, she recalled seeing Bob Starling a man who lived next door to the Somers with his family. She writes to Bob and his wife Beth, asking if they would be able to help find a place for Lisa to live, a place with a responsible roommate and near the UN. The Starlings wrote back, enthusiastically offering to have Lisa live with them even though their home was especially busy now that their family had grown to three daughters. They mention that a fine young lady named Margie Robbins lives next door and was looking for a roommate. Lisa gets her mom and dad’s permission to ask the Starlings to ask Margie about her living with her and a short time later the Starlings send a letter back with the happy report that Margie will hold the place for her until she arrives in New York.
It’s late August when Lisa arrives in New York. She’s picked up by Beth at the train station and a short time later Lisa meets the Starling daughters. In my opinion, the characters that are the three Starling daughter are a triumph for the author Phyllis Whitney. The eldest is Carol, she’s responsible, bookish and is continuously in a state of mild disparagement at the antics of her two younger sisters. Carol usually pops into the story as a means for Whitney to accentuate the free spirited nature of her sisters, if only be contrast in personality. Bunny is the super energetic, observant and talkative middle daughter. She’s forever coming up with exciting plans for everyone to engage in and is especially enamored with Margie, Lisa and her sophisticated fellow United Nations guides who come to visit. Then there’s the youngest daughter Mimi, she the blonde, brown eyed, button nosed “beauty of the family” (according to the author). Like Bunny, Mimi is memorable but with the added distinction of an ever present imaginary “monster friend,” serpentine in shape, especially long and meandering. I loved how Whitney portrays this little girl and her ever present concern that her “monster” was being stepped on, pinched into a closed door or caught in a refrigerator. She was wonderful in every way!
I really enjoyed the “across the hall” environment Whitney created, the pleasant, yet secretive world of Margie Robbins as it intermingles with the charmingly chaotic world of the Starling Family. This “blending of contrasts” works exceptionally well for Whitney. The standout scene for me was when Bunny “chaired” a planning meeting for a Halloween party that’s to take place in the building, the themes of which admittedly do not generally come together, costumes in the themes of the various nations of the world, lots of candy and to top it off humanitarian advocacy for the less fortunate children of the world. Maybe this is what happens when a group of children who live across the street from the United Nations get together? Whatever the reason, I loved the idea.
In the “The Highest Dream” we also see Lisa in love, get the chance to glimpse into the inner workings of the United Nations and we gain an appreciation for the customs and traditions of those who come from very different backgrounds than out own.
I enjoyed this engaging and fast paced look into the life and work of United Nations tour guides.
Indulging my fondness for collecting 1950's YA fiction, this is another one that I had on my bookshelf but actually hadn't read yet. Not the best story but it was a rather interesting piece of propaganda for the United Nations just 10 years after it was formed. The social commentary on why the UN was useful and why Americans should appreciate the UN's work was the most interesting to me, although I suppose the love triangle, "Who will Norman choose to love?" was pretty interesting too!
One of my favorite of Whitney's books - about Lisa Somers who becomes a United Nations tour guide in New York city, achieving self confidence and a sense of purpose.
I had a very hard time finishing this book. I realize it is old and very dated, but even so, I don't think I would have found it interesting even if I had lived back when it was published in the 50s.
Lisa, the main character, decides on what seems to be a whim that she wants a job as a tour guide at the UN building in New York. She never has any goals for her life other than to be recognized as a person in her own right and not the daughter of her famous father. To be fair, she does want to have a career, and even though this is a romance novel, she STILL tells her guy that she wants a career even after they are married. Kudos for that since this is a 60 year old book! However, like I said, she never has any specific goals and just seems to drift along wherever fate will take her. Also there is a huge portion of the book that is devoted to how the tour guides (and career women in general) have to keep up their appearances. Tour guides have to fit into the uniform and have perfectly styled hair and makeup, etc. Again, I realize this book is a product of its time, but it was emphasized so much it really turned me off. Finally, the writing style seemed stilted and almost formal and was very hard to get into.
I feel that 2 stars is generous, and it only gets that many when looked at in context of its times.