Details
Synopsis
The novel begins in 1987--with Margaret Neal, a student at Harvard who drops out of school after being seduced by one of her professors and having an abortion--and works its way backwards in time, through the history of an upstate New York family, ending in 1938 with Margaret's aunt, Peggy Kerwin, as a young and troubled woman in San Francisco. An epilogue set in 1988 brings the story up to date. The title, SOUVENIR OF COLD SPRINGS, refers to an inscription on a cheap ring bought as a gift in 1938 (the ring is a constant motif in the novel), but it is also meant to encompass the continuing effects--souvenirs--of one impulsive act.
| Size | | Length: | 336 pages | | Height: | 7.8 in | | Width: | 5.0 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 9.6 oz |
Publisher's Notes
First Line: "Anywhere, Margaret thought. Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver, but preferably someplace warm. Honolulu, Acapulco, Saint-Tropez. On the subway, she recited the names of cities to herself, a rosary of places that weren't Boston. Palermo, Pamplona, San Juan. Miami Beach, for heaven's sake. <BR> The T was cool and clammy; outside, the day was even colder. Daylight saving time was just over, all the trees were leafless, and the streets got dark at five o'clock. Buenos Aires, Palm Springs, Algiers. But anywhere, really. Paris, London. No, not London. Or would it matter? What were the chances of her running into Matthew in a city the size of London? And what would it matter if she did? Paris, London, Rome. Anywhere, anything. <BR> She tried not to look at the other people in her car. She read the advertising instead. Vodka, beauty school, Jobfinders, beer. The procedure to follow in an emergency was posted by the door in both English and Spanish, and she read it over and over. Pull the ring and slide the lever to the left, then follow the instructions of the train crew. An emergency seemed imminent. It always seemed to Margaret that people on the subway at odd hours looked disturbed in some way. Mornings, everyone going to work, they were absorbed in their newspapers or not awake enough to make trouble, and at the evening rush hour they were blank-eyed and exhausted. But during less busy times-like now, four in the afternoon-they weren't a crowd, they weren't safe. They were separate individuals, thinking. They were all potential maniacs."
Industry Reviews
"[A]n ambitiously structured multigenerational tale about the lives of women in an extended family....There are many tales in this ambitious book, individually all well told."
Kirkus Reviews (07/15/2001)
"The novel's achievement is that it presents several generations of the family with keen insight, tracing their specific eccentricities and shedding light on family dynamics in general.... Although it focuses intensely on the women of the family, SOUVENIR OF COLD SPRINGS is a feminist novel only in the most oblique sense. Unlike such writers as Amy Tan and Alice Walker, Florey is not unduly sentimental about women. For each generous, nurturing female character she creates another who is capricious and self-absorbed....Ultimately, what lifts SOUVENIR OF COLD SPRINGS above the average is the author's ability to see beyond the labels family members give each other...and present each character as a complex, layered individual."
Newsday (Long Island, N.Y.) - Sarah Coleman (08/12/2001)
"It would be best if you just went and read the book now. It's a shame to spoil the pleasure Florey offers in her graceful revelations....For all Florey's formal acrobatics, these people seem real, and their secrets seem possible, fascinating. Because the story is told backward through time, you are constantly discovering connections, digging into the past, excavating. Consequently, the novel's structure seems epic without seeming bulky."
Hartford Courant - Ashley Warlick (08/19/2001)
"Florey has a particular gift for characterization and imbues her protagonists' simplest moments of self-reflection with telling detail and startling awareness. The result is a smart and absorbing novel that rings true. Most impressive is that the many falls and foibles of this clan do not serve to create an air of tragedy nor does the female-driven narrative lapse into sentimentality. Florey's forthright and witty prose buoyantly carries the tale."
Publishers Weekly (08/20/2001)
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