Book review: Megan Mayhew Berman's 'Almost Famous Women'

Almost Famous Women

nolead begins By Megan Mayhew Bergman

Scribner. 256 pages, $25

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Reviewed By Connie Ogle

The women in Megan Mayhew Bergman's vivid new story collection live just outside the limelight. Once, they had heydays, of a sort: on stage, on screen, on the battlefield, in front of a canvas. But as their modest lights fade, what's left is disappointment, bitterness, and bravado.

To Bergman, author of the terrific story collection Birds of a Lesser Paradise, these forgotten, eccentric, determined women are captivating and worthy. Some gained famed for their works: a speedboat racer; the leader of an all-female, integrated swing band; actress Butterfly McQueen from Gone with the Wind. Others were better known for their infamous relatives: Oscar Wilde's niece; Edna St. Vincent Millay's sister; Lord Byron's illegitimate daughter.

Bergman is fascinated by them all, these "real women whose remarkable lives were reduced to footnotes." In Almost Famous Women, she has taken necessary fictional liberties with them, imagined their hopes and fears and dreams, and created stories so intriguing that you wish they were full-length novels. At the very least, many of the names will send you scrambling for Google.

"I wanted to talk about these women," Bergman writes:

I daydreamed about their choices as I was building my own life, one that seemed tame in comparison. I did not want to romanticize these women or dwell in glittering places; I'm more interested in my characters' difficult choices, or those that were made for them.

Elderly painter Romaine Brookes is trapped with her memories in a villa in Fiesole, unable to work and looked after by a young man who dreams of escape. Dolly Wilde's addictions have diminished her, even to those who love her. Cocky speedboat racer Joe Carstairs seems to have it all: fame, money, famous friends and lovers like Marlene Dietrich, even her own island. But during a days-long party at Joe's mansion, her young lover Georgie begins to understand why her presence in Joe's life will be fleeting.

A few of the stories aren't fleshed out enough to leave a strong impression, such as "A High-Grade Bitch Sits Down for Lunch" (about Beryl Markham) and "Expression Theory" (about dancer Lucia Joyce). Characters and their relationships do, however, come alive in the longer pieces. "Norma Millay's Film Noir Period" examines Norma's complicated rivalry with her poet sister, which could grow contentious ("What kind of ride is it, on my coattails? Is it good?" Vincent asks, only to apologize the next morning). But when Vincent dies, Norma sleeps in her bed, refuses to change anything in fear of more loss - "it might rob the place of her sister's spirit."

Through these engaging stories, Bergman revives these often troubled spirits with great compassion.