Villa America

June 29, 2015
Klaussmann’s second novel (after Tigers in Red Weather) chronicles a real-life couple whose titular villa was the nucleus of 1920s American social life. After an unconventional courtship that spans Gerald’s service in World War I, upper-crust Americans Sara and Gerald Murphy make their home at Cap d’Antibes in the south of France, where Gerald pursues an art career and their frequent summer parties on the Riviera draw much attention. Though Cole Porter, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and the Fitzgeralds are guests, the Murphys’ favorite is Owen Chambers, an attractive young cargo pilot from rural New England who becomes a fixture in Sara and Gerald’s guest house and a close confidant of both Murphys, but especially Gerald, whose relationship with Owen throws his entire life into a tailspin. Propelled by the drama-filled foibles of nearly every prominent lost generation figure a history buff could wish for, Klaussmann’s atmospheric prose contains a treasure trove of trivia for fans of the era. Though the central conflicts and emotions are relatively slow to emerge and seem a little buried under lavish descriptions of the Murphys’ opulent digs, readers who are looking for a trip back in time will find this an ideal beach read.

Liza Klaussmann offers a splendid roman ˆ clef, reimagining the lives of Sara and Gerald Murphy, whose salons in the 1920s included such notable expats as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso, and many other artists, writers, and celebrities of the period. Narrator Jennifer Woodward presents this fictional version of the Murphys with all their magic intact as they entertain at their home, Villa America, in Cap d'Antibes. Woodward's genteel tones and girlish delight make the family's bohemian existence and hedonism both carefree and urgently serious. Woodward's performance highlights the Murphys' marriage, which was fraught with Jazz Age intensity and the sense of ennui that permeated the Lost Generation. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine