kathleen@ihuxw.UUCP (K. S. Romanowski) (06/27/84)
Thanks to all of you who answered my request for a new book title that has just come out on the news stands. It is called ". . . And Ladies of the Club" and was written over a 50-year period by a lady named Helen Hooven Santmeyer. She is still living and is 88 years old. The book is on the stands and retails at $19.95. It is approximately 1100 or more pages and I think it covers a period of 30-50 years (late 1800's to about 1932). I want to read it because I find it interesting that a lady like Ms. Santmeyer would spend 50 years writing the same book. The ". . ." is supposed to stand for "Madame Chairwoman" for an introduction to a group of women at a ladies club meeting. I read this in a review in the Sunday paper a couple of weeks ago. Thanks again. Katie Romanowski
rs55611@ihuxk.UUCP (Robert E. Schleicher) (06/28/84)
Contrary to popular belief, Helen Hooven Santmeyer didn't spend 50 years writing "... And Ladies of the Club". This was erroneously reported in one of the first reviews of the book, and has been repeated by most reviewers. The author refuted this in an interview, although I can't recall where I read the interview (it might have been in Newsweek, or in US News and World Report). She had been thinking about writing the book for many many years,but the actual writing was done over several years, (much less than 50). There was also an interesting story on how the book was "discovered", etc. This book should win the 1984 award for " "most unlikely best seller", as who would have ever predicted that an 1100 page novel centered around a small town, midwestern ladies literary club would attract so much attention. It must be very well written. Apparently, if you can get ~100 pages into it, you're hooked. Bob Schleicher ihuxk!rs55611 AT&T Bell Laboratories, Naperville, Ill.