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Katherine's Wish
In her new novel, Linda Lappin (author of
The Etruscan
) explores the final years in the life of short story writer and literary figure, Katherine Mansfield, focusing on her relationships with Ida Baker and John Middleton Murry against the backdrop of her ceaseless journeys and changes of residence—the South of France, London, Italy, Switzerland, and finally, Fontainebleau. The narrative incorporates modernist techniques used by Mansfield, Virginia Wolff, and D.H. Lawrence in their fiction. Though the book deals with tragic issues, it celebrates Mansfield's deep love of life, which never abandoned her, and its final message is a life-affirming one of joy and of wholeness achieved.
223 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2008
About the author
Linda Lappin
14 books61 followersLinda Lappin is a prize-winning poet, novelist, travel writer, literary translator and writing teacher who divides her time between Italy and the USA. She has published four novels, Katherine’s Wish, Signatures in Stone, which won the 2014 Daphne Du Maurier Award for mystery writing, and Loving Modigliani: The Afterlife of Jeanne Hébuterne, and The Etruscan
Her creative writing book: The Soul of Place: Ideas and Exercises for Conjuring the Genius Loci published by Travelers Tales in 2015 won the gold medal in the Nautilus Awards in the field of creativity. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa Writing Workshop. For her work in literary translation, she received the Poggioli Prize from PEN and two National Endowment for the Arts grants.
Her creative writing book: The Soul of Place: Ideas and Exercises for Conjuring the Genius Loci published by Travelers Tales in 2015 won the gold medal in the Nautilus Awards in the field of creativity. She holds an MFA from the University of Iowa Writing Workshop. For her work in literary translation, she received the Poggioli Prize from PEN and two National Endowment for the Arts grants.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
December 10, 2021
VERDICT: Fascinating portrait of Katherine Mansfield and her literary milieu. Anyone interested in this influential author needs to read this novel!
I read some short stories by Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) forty years ago or more, and unfortunately have no real memory of them.
But I had no idea of her life. And what a life and a character!
So I eagerly read Katherine’s Wish, a historical novel focusing on the last five years of her life, when she traveled back and forth between England, France, Italy, and Switzerland, trying to find the best setting and cure for her tuberculosis.
These were five major years for her. Despite her illness, these were her most productive literary years. So it made sense that Linda Lappin focused on that period of her life.
See my full review here:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/12/10/...
I read some short stories by Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) forty years ago or more, and unfortunately have no real memory of them.
But I had no idea of her life. And what a life and a character!
So I eagerly read Katherine’s Wish, a historical novel focusing on the last five years of her life, when she traveled back and forth between England, France, Italy, and Switzerland, trying to find the best setting and cure for her tuberculosis.
These were five major years for her. Despite her illness, these were her most productive literary years. So it made sense that Linda Lappin focused on that period of her life.
See my full review here:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/12/10/...
November 7, 2021
When I became aware of Linda Lappin’s book, Katherine’s Wish, I raced to get a copy, and subsequently spent several hours mesmerized.
Lappin’s an observant writer, able to slip into the skins of her historical characters and make us want to know more, more, more! Yet from the novel’s beginning, she doesn’t allow us to get comfortable, and I find that admirable. She plops us on a train with Katherine Mansfield, who is trying not to cough so as not to give away how sick she is, the smell of mothballs and perspiration stinking up the scene. She desperately wants a cup of tea; her muscles ache from being cramped in this claustrophobia-inducing place for hours. A strange man crowds the compartment. This is no woman fading gently of consumption in a “romantic” way. This is a woman facing obstacles on every side. She’s in pain. She’s alone. She doesn’t know how she’s even going to carry her luggage when she does get off the train.
I admire the realism with which Lappin paints the story. Because of the extremes poor Mansfield suffers for her art, we learn to value it as much as she does, and we root for her all the more.
But Lappin evenhandedly doesn’t let us miss how selfish Mansfield can be in her illness, how no matter how much she suffers, her devoted friend/once lover, Ida Baker, suffers nearly as much, whether physically caring for the ailing writer, doing arduous chores for her when there’s no one else to do them, or being hired out to pay their way when there’s no money. All of this when Ida wants nothing more than to retain Mansfield’s love and attention, but Mansfield can think of no one but her beloved John Middleton Murry, also a writer.
While she needs Ida, she wants Murry. She’s obsessed with the man. Though they have agreed to have an open relationship, it torments her when he strays. It does not seem to bother her, however, when she trades sexual favors to get what she wants from a doctor. It’s a confident, skilled author who can allow her characters to be imperfect. In fact, her imperfections only make Mansfield more intriguing.
Being a writer, naturally I was most taken with the middle parts of the novel that center on Mansfield’s writing process. I could have read 50 more pages of her fighting with her muse, struggling and succeeding.
As a fan of Virginia Woolf, I devoured the scenes featuring her. I was struck by how restrained Lappin made Woolf when Woolf and Mansfield meet after Mansfield’s lukewarm review of Woolf’s latest book, Night and Day. Mansfield objects to Woolf’s exclusion of the war, and so damns it with faint praise in writing rather than confront the absence of it.
Though the passage mirrors what Woolf later wrote in her journal about the meeting, it does make one squirm to hear the authors discuss the review, even obliquely. In both versions, Woolf shows a vulnerability and an openness to another author’s opinion. It’s refreshing and touching. However, knowing that Woolf could be a bit waspish, however accurately Lappin related the meeting, I’m not convinced Woolf accurately reported it in her journal in the first place.
A repeated reversal of fortunes even today describes all too often the lot of a writer, but for Mansfield, it seemed a sad way of life. She’d get ahead, then her medical treatments or her doctor’s orders to move somewhere with a better climate would impoverish her and Murry again. Mansfield and Murry were often apart during these times because his work wouldn’t allow him – or so he said – to join her. Yet ultimately, you get the feeling that they were quite fond of one another and though they had an unconventional relationship, it worked for them.
If you know Mansfield’s story, you know how it ends (tragically, as happens with so many creatives, as if they must pay for their gift with their life). Lappin doesn’t take us that far on the journey, but she hints broadly – and painfully, exquisitely– at it.
A paragraph on the last page of the book gorgeously illustrates the weighting of Mansfield’s soul, the closing out of her days:
“The fire was dying. Dusk had fallen. Katherine sat before the hearth, wrapped in her shawl. Her feet and hands were numb. There were no more logs to add to the fire. It was growing late and still no one had come for her. Surely Monsieur Gurdjieff had not forgotten she was still here waiting? The house seemed so silent. She went to the window, opened it wide and leaned out into the cold. No lights burned in the other windows. The lawn and the porter’s lodge were deserted, then from far away came the sound of a piano, an insistent rhythm, an eerie melody.”
These words, of course, contain a double meaning. The woman is dying. Every remedy has failed, no doctor can keep her alive, though she wants desperately to continue living, continue writing, but, alas, “There were no more logs to add to the fire.”
Lappin masterfully doesn’t say the writer is dying. In fact, in the closing paragraph, Mansfield wishes she could live forever, an ironic wish given her shortened life.
Lappin’s inclusion of the grimmer details of Mansfield’s life styles the story: this sophisticated choice befits the study of a modernist writer.
I seldom say a book transports me, but this one truly did. I suffered along with both Mansfield and Ida. I shivered during the wintery scenes. My stomach rumbled along with theirs during their lean times, and I longed to send them a pizza through time and space. When they feasted, I exalted. When her work went well, I rejoiced.
I’ve read a couple of Mansfield’s stories, and I read about her friendship with Virginia Woolf in the excellent A Secret Sisterhood by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney. This winter, especially after reading Lappin’s novel, I aim to read more Mansfield.
If you have any interest in modernist literature, in “smart” books and topics, in Katherine Mansfield or Virginia Woolf, in a writer who lives a life of illness while trying desperately to keep herself alive by (and for) writing, or if you just love well-written novels, you’ll love Lappin’s book.
Lappin’s an observant writer, able to slip into the skins of her historical characters and make us want to know more, more, more! Yet from the novel’s beginning, she doesn’t allow us to get comfortable, and I find that admirable. She plops us on a train with Katherine Mansfield, who is trying not to cough so as not to give away how sick she is, the smell of mothballs and perspiration stinking up the scene. She desperately wants a cup of tea; her muscles ache from being cramped in this claustrophobia-inducing place for hours. A strange man crowds the compartment. This is no woman fading gently of consumption in a “romantic” way. This is a woman facing obstacles on every side. She’s in pain. She’s alone. She doesn’t know how she’s even going to carry her luggage when she does get off the train.
I admire the realism with which Lappin paints the story. Because of the extremes poor Mansfield suffers for her art, we learn to value it as much as she does, and we root for her all the more.
But Lappin evenhandedly doesn’t let us miss how selfish Mansfield can be in her illness, how no matter how much she suffers, her devoted friend/once lover, Ida Baker, suffers nearly as much, whether physically caring for the ailing writer, doing arduous chores for her when there’s no one else to do them, or being hired out to pay their way when there’s no money. All of this when Ida wants nothing more than to retain Mansfield’s love and attention, but Mansfield can think of no one but her beloved John Middleton Murry, also a writer.
While she needs Ida, she wants Murry. She’s obsessed with the man. Though they have agreed to have an open relationship, it torments her when he strays. It does not seem to bother her, however, when she trades sexual favors to get what she wants from a doctor. It’s a confident, skilled author who can allow her characters to be imperfect. In fact, her imperfections only make Mansfield more intriguing.
Being a writer, naturally I was most taken with the middle parts of the novel that center on Mansfield’s writing process. I could have read 50 more pages of her fighting with her muse, struggling and succeeding.
As a fan of Virginia Woolf, I devoured the scenes featuring her. I was struck by how restrained Lappin made Woolf when Woolf and Mansfield meet after Mansfield’s lukewarm review of Woolf’s latest book, Night and Day. Mansfield objects to Woolf’s exclusion of the war, and so damns it with faint praise in writing rather than confront the absence of it.
Though the passage mirrors what Woolf later wrote in her journal about the meeting, it does make one squirm to hear the authors discuss the review, even obliquely. In both versions, Woolf shows a vulnerability and an openness to another author’s opinion. It’s refreshing and touching. However, knowing that Woolf could be a bit waspish, however accurately Lappin related the meeting, I’m not convinced Woolf accurately reported it in her journal in the first place.
A repeated reversal of fortunes even today describes all too often the lot of a writer, but for Mansfield, it seemed a sad way of life. She’d get ahead, then her medical treatments or her doctor’s orders to move somewhere with a better climate would impoverish her and Murry again. Mansfield and Murry were often apart during these times because his work wouldn’t allow him – or so he said – to join her. Yet ultimately, you get the feeling that they were quite fond of one another and though they had an unconventional relationship, it worked for them.
If you know Mansfield’s story, you know how it ends (tragically, as happens with so many creatives, as if they must pay for their gift with their life). Lappin doesn’t take us that far on the journey, but she hints broadly – and painfully, exquisitely– at it.
A paragraph on the last page of the book gorgeously illustrates the weighting of Mansfield’s soul, the closing out of her days:
“The fire was dying. Dusk had fallen. Katherine sat before the hearth, wrapped in her shawl. Her feet and hands were numb. There were no more logs to add to the fire. It was growing late and still no one had come for her. Surely Monsieur Gurdjieff had not forgotten she was still here waiting? The house seemed so silent. She went to the window, opened it wide and leaned out into the cold. No lights burned in the other windows. The lawn and the porter’s lodge were deserted, then from far away came the sound of a piano, an insistent rhythm, an eerie melody.”
These words, of course, contain a double meaning. The woman is dying. Every remedy has failed, no doctor can keep her alive, though she wants desperately to continue living, continue writing, but, alas, “There were no more logs to add to the fire.”
Lappin masterfully doesn’t say the writer is dying. In fact, in the closing paragraph, Mansfield wishes she could live forever, an ironic wish given her shortened life.
Lappin’s inclusion of the grimmer details of Mansfield’s life styles the story: this sophisticated choice befits the study of a modernist writer.
I seldom say a book transports me, but this one truly did. I suffered along with both Mansfield and Ida. I shivered during the wintery scenes. My stomach rumbled along with theirs during their lean times, and I longed to send them a pizza through time and space. When they feasted, I exalted. When her work went well, I rejoiced.
I’ve read a couple of Mansfield’s stories, and I read about her friendship with Virginia Woolf in the excellent A Secret Sisterhood by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney. This winter, especially after reading Lappin’s novel, I aim to read more Mansfield.
If you have any interest in modernist literature, in “smart” books and topics, in Katherine Mansfield or Virginia Woolf, in a writer who lives a life of illness while trying desperately to keep herself alive by (and for) writing, or if you just love well-written novels, you’ll love Lappin’s book.
November 14, 2021
A vividly immersive novel of Katherine Mansfield’s final years
Katherine’s Wish by Linda Lappin is the mesmerizing novel of Katherine Mansfield’s final years. Lappin researched the story for more than 20 years and developed the story from Mansfield’s own writings and those of people who knew her personally. Written from Katherine’s and her long-time companion, Ida Baker’s points of view, the story gives insight into Mansfield’s relationships, feelings, and thoughts of the world around her, especially her deteriorating health. Her efforts to seek a cure for her consumption during this timeframe, after the First World War, were eye-opening regarding the state of medical knowledge then. (A lot has changed in the last 100 years, however even today, there are still “cures” lurking out there for the desperately ill.)
Lappin’s writing is lovely, so smooth and evocative. I could feel the characters’ emotions as if I were there to share them. My heart ached for both Ida and Katherine. Having finished the novel, I am inspired to read more about Katherine, her work, and many notable friends and acquaintances.I recommend Katherine’s Wish to readers of literary fiction, historical fiction, and biographies, especially those with an interest in Katherine Mansfield and her contemporaries or those curious about the state of Europe after WWI.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author.December 22, 2021
A while ago I read Linda Lappin's historical fiction of Jeanne Hébuterne in Loving Modigliani: The Afterlife of Jeanne Hébuterne. I really love how Linda Lappin makes historical persons come alive. Now I have read another historical fiction by her, Katherine's Wish, about the life of Katherine Mansfield.
It is a wonderfully written account on the latter part of Mansfield's life. For many years she was ill with tuberculosis and spent her time, restlessly travelling in Europe to find a climate suitable for her disease. France, Italy and Switzerland where the places where she stayed to escape the damp, English winter.
Although most of the novel covers Katherine's more intimate relationships, we meet some of the most famous writers of the day. Katherine had a close relationship with D.H. Lawrence and his wife, until Lawrence, sends her a shocking letter. Her relationship with Virginia Woolf is also fragile, although they seem to go on well together, and admire each other's writing.
Two of her closer relationships are covered by this book. That with her lover, and later husband, John Middleton Murry, and, her ever, patient friend from her school days, Ida Baker. Ida loves Katherine above everything else. It is hinted that, during their younger years, they had an intimate relationship.
"Dear dull, dreamy Ida, with her red nose and dumpy bosom, her chubby calves and puzzled eyes. Once so lovely with blond hair hanging to her waist like a hank of silk. Ida her jailer, her slave, her shame, and yes, Ida, her sole relief. Katherine could hardly bear to look at her at times, overcome by disgust with herself at crushing Ida so completely; disgust, too, at Ida's willing submission."
John Middleton Murry was an author and critic. Katherine seems to have been quite in love with him, although he had other affairs. Intellectually, they were on the same level, however, Murry seems to have prioritised his career over Katherine. Most of the time they lived separate lives, due to Katherine's long stays in Europe. He visited her only occasionally on the Continent.
Ida Baker worked as an accompanying lady, or, to be totally frank, more like a servant to Katherine. Their relationship is a complicated one. Katherine was totally dependent on the help that Ida provided, but sometimes she just couldn't stand her. Maybe it is the biased world of an ill person; she needed Ida to take care of daily chores, but was frustrated at the same time, not being able to have her independence.
"No one, not even Murry understood their special friendship. It secretly amused and pleased her that no one seemed to see that Ida's devotion was by no means one-sided. They were lika an old married couple, perfectly matched in their defects and idiosyncrasies, bound fast by habit, but also by a tough affection that nothing could erode. Ida was more than nurse, secretary, wife. In some very peculiar way, Ida was Katherine herself just as she was Ida. That was the miracle. But how would Ida adapt now the time had come for her to turn away?"
In spite of her illness, Katherine Mansfield was very productive during these years. Maybe greatness comes out of misery. She and Ida lived a life on low means. Her father, who was a rich man, gave her a monthly payment, although it was not enough to support her. She struggled with her novels, and also wrote reviews to earn extra money. What is amazing though is, that she still seemed to have a positive view on life. She always thought she could find a cure for her disease.
"When does a journey really begin, thought Katherine, as the man with the dogs met her eyes, then slid away in the window. It was a little like falling in love or running into debt. The beginning is so subtle you may not notice, then suddenly there you are hurtling into the distance on a train. And there's no turning back until you reach the end of the line, until you have gone all the way through with it, burning your bridges if need be, and leaving everything tidy in case you never make it back."
Neither Katherine Mansfield nor John Middleton Murry come out of this fiction as lovable characters. Katherine's selfish behaviour towards Ida Baker is from time to time appalling. One thing that comes out though is Katherine's love for life. It never wavers, and until the very end, she is hoping for a cure. That is maybe why Linda Lappin choose to end the book, not with the death of Katherine, but with Katherine's Wish.
Linda Lappin has written a highly, interesting historical fiction on the life of Katherine Mansfield. Having just read two of Mansfield's collections of short stories, I am amazed how well Lappin managed to describe Mansfield in her book. It is written in a very similar style to Mansfield's and it makes for great reading. The characters come out very well, the surroundings, the every day chores, a heavy burden on the ill Katherine, make you feel you are there with her. Her meetings with fellow authors at the time, giving a hint on their life style, is interesting and insightful. "To the Woolf's friends - the Bloomsberries, as Lawrence called them, Katherine and Murry were uppstarts, hacks who must make their living by the pen while Virginia and her friends could devote themselves to literary pursuits as an expensive and eccentric hobby."
If you are interested in historical fiction Linda Lappin is an author you should not miss. Having read two of her books, I am impressed by the research that has gone into her storytelling. When reading historical fiction, be it on persons or history, I always try to look up the facts. In this case I am pleased to see how well they are reflected in the novels.
It is a wonderfully written account on the latter part of Mansfield's life. For many years she was ill with tuberculosis and spent her time, restlessly travelling in Europe to find a climate suitable for her disease. France, Italy and Switzerland where the places where she stayed to escape the damp, English winter.
Although most of the novel covers Katherine's more intimate relationships, we meet some of the most famous writers of the day. Katherine had a close relationship with D.H. Lawrence and his wife, until Lawrence, sends her a shocking letter. Her relationship with Virginia Woolf is also fragile, although they seem to go on well together, and admire each other's writing.
Two of her closer relationships are covered by this book. That with her lover, and later husband, John Middleton Murry, and, her ever, patient friend from her school days, Ida Baker. Ida loves Katherine above everything else. It is hinted that, during their younger years, they had an intimate relationship.
"Dear dull, dreamy Ida, with her red nose and dumpy bosom, her chubby calves and puzzled eyes. Once so lovely with blond hair hanging to her waist like a hank of silk. Ida her jailer, her slave, her shame, and yes, Ida, her sole relief. Katherine could hardly bear to look at her at times, overcome by disgust with herself at crushing Ida so completely; disgust, too, at Ida's willing submission."
John Middleton Murry was an author and critic. Katherine seems to have been quite in love with him, although he had other affairs. Intellectually, they were on the same level, however, Murry seems to have prioritised his career over Katherine. Most of the time they lived separate lives, due to Katherine's long stays in Europe. He visited her only occasionally on the Continent.
Ida Baker worked as an accompanying lady, or, to be totally frank, more like a servant to Katherine. Their relationship is a complicated one. Katherine was totally dependent on the help that Ida provided, but sometimes she just couldn't stand her. Maybe it is the biased world of an ill person; she needed Ida to take care of daily chores, but was frustrated at the same time, not being able to have her independence.
"No one, not even Murry understood their special friendship. It secretly amused and pleased her that no one seemed to see that Ida's devotion was by no means one-sided. They were lika an old married couple, perfectly matched in their defects and idiosyncrasies, bound fast by habit, but also by a tough affection that nothing could erode. Ida was more than nurse, secretary, wife. In some very peculiar way, Ida was Katherine herself just as she was Ida. That was the miracle. But how would Ida adapt now the time had come for her to turn away?"
In spite of her illness, Katherine Mansfield was very productive during these years. Maybe greatness comes out of misery. She and Ida lived a life on low means. Her father, who was a rich man, gave her a monthly payment, although it was not enough to support her. She struggled with her novels, and also wrote reviews to earn extra money. What is amazing though is, that she still seemed to have a positive view on life. She always thought she could find a cure for her disease.
"When does a journey really begin, thought Katherine, as the man with the dogs met her eyes, then slid away in the window. It was a little like falling in love or running into debt. The beginning is so subtle you may not notice, then suddenly there you are hurtling into the distance on a train. And there's no turning back until you reach the end of the line, until you have gone all the way through with it, burning your bridges if need be, and leaving everything tidy in case you never make it back."
Neither Katherine Mansfield nor John Middleton Murry come out of this fiction as lovable characters. Katherine's selfish behaviour towards Ida Baker is from time to time appalling. One thing that comes out though is Katherine's love for life. It never wavers, and until the very end, she is hoping for a cure. That is maybe why Linda Lappin choose to end the book, not with the death of Katherine, but with Katherine's Wish.
Linda Lappin has written a highly, interesting historical fiction on the life of Katherine Mansfield. Having just read two of Mansfield's collections of short stories, I am amazed how well Lappin managed to describe Mansfield in her book. It is written in a very similar style to Mansfield's and it makes for great reading. The characters come out very well, the surroundings, the every day chores, a heavy burden on the ill Katherine, make you feel you are there with her. Her meetings with fellow authors at the time, giving a hint on their life style, is interesting and insightful. "To the Woolf's friends - the Bloomsberries, as Lawrence called them, Katherine and Murry were uppstarts, hacks who must make their living by the pen while Virginia and her friends could devote themselves to literary pursuits as an expensive and eccentric hobby."
If you are interested in historical fiction Linda Lappin is an author you should not miss. Having read two of her books, I am impressed by the research that has gone into her storytelling. When reading historical fiction, be it on persons or history, I always try to look up the facts. In this case I am pleased to see how well they are reflected in the novels.
November 16, 2013
This book forced me to consider how I used Goodreads. Up to very recently, my reviews here have been for me to keep a record of what I've read. Mostly my reviews show when I read a book, and if I liked it. What happens, though, when I read a book and I don't especially like it but think that other people who might read my review really would? A more thorough, real review is called for.
Katherine's Wish is beautiful, it provides a snapshot of a particular time, making a period of history real and easier to understand than any history book could ever do. With all of that, I still didn't really enjoy it.
The fact I didn't like it so much has far more to do with me than with the writing. Several times while reading it, I thought about who the author must have read every scrap of correspondence by and about Katherine Mansfield and Jack Murray. The parts of Katherine's Wish that came directly from "real life" seemed obvious as did the more fictionalized parts.
Another small thing that bothered me was that there seemed to be no reason whatsoever for Jack's big change of heart. Why did he suddenly go from avoiding Katherine, not sending her money, living with another woman to joining her and caring for her as she died? Something had to have spurred that change of heart.
One aspect of the story that I really liked was how the author depicted Katherine's efforts to appear not poor. To me, that's an interesting theme and something that most people in modern, western societies have to deal with. Katherine was in a slightly unusual position being in contact with so many people who had far greater means than she.
Despite my complaints, if you like historical fiction that is not heavy on the romance, if you particularly enjoy stories set in the early 20th century, or if you are a Katherine Mansfield fan, you will probably really like this book.
Katherine's Wish is beautiful, it provides a snapshot of a particular time, making a period of history real and easier to understand than any history book could ever do. With all of that, I still didn't really enjoy it.
The fact I didn't like it so much has far more to do with me than with the writing. Several times while reading it, I thought about who the author must have read every scrap of correspondence by and about Katherine Mansfield and Jack Murray. The parts of Katherine's Wish that came directly from "real life" seemed obvious as did the more fictionalized parts.
Another small thing that bothered me was that there seemed to be no reason whatsoever for Jack's big change of heart. Why did he suddenly go from avoiding Katherine, not sending her money, living with another woman to joining her and caring for her as she died? Something had to have spurred that change of heart.
One aspect of the story that I really liked was how the author depicted Katherine's efforts to appear not poor. To me, that's an interesting theme and something that most people in modern, western societies have to deal with. Katherine was in a slightly unusual position being in contact with so many people who had far greater means than she.
Despite my complaints, if you like historical fiction that is not heavy on the romance, if you particularly enjoy stories set in the early 20th century, or if you are a Katherine Mansfield fan, you will probably really like this book.
March 15, 2010
This novel's strongest point is its treatment of place. I got a strong feel for the life of a certain class of people between the two World Wars. The description of the bombed out Paris street or the animosity of French country people towards the English or the Paris party for artists are all rich scenes that are still with me. One of the amazing things about this novel is that while it is a novel with a strong spirit of place, the book is charged with a sense of 'dis-placement'. That is, as much as Katherine moves about, I get the feeling that she never feels 'at home' anywhere. She's always on the move. I lost count of how many trips, how many trains, how many residences she inhabits during the novel. She yearns for a home with John Murray, but lacking that, she leans on Ida for all her needs. She goes back and forth between them throughout. Katherine remains enigmatic. We know her thoughts but we get to know her primarily by how other people react to her. She doesn't seem to belong anywhere. She's not Bohemian enough for Lawrence and the others but too Bohemian for her family. I came away with a picture of her as overwhelming 'rootless' and she remains in my mind unbearably sad character.
November 22, 2021
Katherine's Wish is my first introduction to author Linda Lappin. After reading this one, it will not be the last book I read by her. It was interesting to find out that the character Katherine was based on a late nineteenth century writer, Katherine Mansfield. I thought the author did a wonderful job bringing this historical figure to life. I felt like I was transported back in time and was taking the journey with her. It was interesting to see how she was portrayed, enjoyed getting to know her, and learning about her life. At times, I felt as though I could relate to her and felt a connection. One of my favorite parts of the book was when she met up with Virginia Woolf and saw how the two interacted. It was fun and entertaining.
I am giving Katherine's Wish four stars. I recommend it for readers who enjoy reading historical fiction, based on real people from the past. I will be looking for more by Linda Lappin in the future to find out where her imagination will take her readers to next.
I received a digital copy of Katherine's Wish from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.
I am giving Katherine's Wish four stars. I recommend it for readers who enjoy reading historical fiction, based on real people from the past. I will be looking for more by Linda Lappin in the future to find out where her imagination will take her readers to next.
I received a digital copy of Katherine's Wish from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.
November 7, 2013
Lappin's use of language in Katherine's Wish is evocative, visual, and palatable. Floating along the sensory, fanciful, surreal, the story unfolds amid the dark certainty of impending doom and the permanence of mortality. Katherine's ability to see and express beauty while withstanding her illness is delightfully full of life, until her demons set in and she becomes like the glow of a late spring freeze, both chilling and warming. The anticipated ending is abrupt, a slap in the face to a cheek full turned. Better to have mourned and buried Katherine, perhaps, than to leave her in the uncertainty of her mind.
July 1, 2015
Katherine's Wish is a superbly written, fictionalized account of Mansfield's last five years. Linda Lappin revealed to me a different, deeper Katherine Mansfield, encouragine me to read anew her work.
October 2, 2022
Katherine's Wish (2008) by Linda Lappin has surprised me. The novel opens up the lives of Baker and Mansfield much more than all the short biographical notes I have read over the years before plunging into Mansfield's short fiction itself. The study of the mutual dependency of Ida and Katherine should be required reading for literature students exploring modernism and literature in English as it passed through WW1 and into the early 1920s. Mansfield's life experiences through this period of writing are painted in sharp contrast by Lappin to the life being led by John Middleton Murry. The scene in South Kensington registry office (p.54) May 3rd, 1918, allows the reader into Murry's thoughts, 'He felt oddly abstracted from himself [...] unemotionally he reflected that the cause of his dulled reaction was the vague but lingering uncertainty about the step he was now taking.'
Murry's main journey in the novel is his bicycle ride to the registry office, while Mansfield crosses the Channel and travels by train through wartime France. All the places she stays are described in useful, emotional detail for a literary explorer like me. Finally, Linda Lappin has provided literary detectives with her own photograph of le Prieuré des Basses Loges in Avon, where the rue des Basses Loges meets the D210.
Murry's main journey in the novel is his bicycle ride to the registry office, while Mansfield crosses the Channel and travels by train through wartime France. All the places she stays are described in useful, emotional detail for a literary explorer like me. Finally, Linda Lappin has provided literary detectives with her own photograph of le Prieuré des Basses Loges in Avon, where the rue des Basses Loges meets the D210.
January 10, 2009
What Linda Lappin has brought off is about desire, & it moves us like desire. Her Katherine Mansfield -- yes, the great storyteller, one of the only writers Virginia Woolf claimed to envy, who lived most of her short life in England and died of tuberculosis (& a turbulent heart) in 1923 -- this reimagined Mansfield is on a quest with which anyone can identify. She's an ardent lover seeking same, & seeking more, & she achieves an ambivalent triumph, now here, now gone, never quite what she thought she was after. The novel vividly renders the bewildering rush of its heroine's declining years, a time of paradoxical flailing & accomplishment. It begins in the devastated final months of World War I, in a southern France on strict rations & stripped of healthy men, then moves through the writer's marriage, her late successes, & her any-port-in-a-storm commitment to the cult of the Russian mystic Gurdjieff. Along the wa Lappin brings to life a number of the literary sensibilities of the Bloomsbury circle, including, yes, Woolf, & D.H. Lawrence too. Through it all, Mansfield emerges ever more powerfully: a sensation, a tragedy, a tempest of yearning.
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November 12, 20212009 Finalist Foreword Book of the Year in Fiction
2010 Gold Medal IPPY Awards in the Historical fiction category
2011 Honorable mention, fiction Paris Book Festival
"Lappin succeeds where medicine fails in giving Katherine Mansfield ongoing life".... Walter Cummins, The Literary Review, winter 2008
2010 Gold Medal IPPY Awards in the Historical fiction category
2011 Honorable mention, fiction Paris Book Festival
"Lappin succeeds where medicine fails in giving Katherine Mansfield ongoing life".... Walter Cummins, The Literary Review, winter 2008
September 11, 2008
stunning
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