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An Elegant Woman: Martha McPhee in Conversation

The National Arts Club presents a conversation between Martha McPhee, author of An Elegant Woman, and Phillip Lopate.

For fans of Mary Beth Keane and Jennifer Egan, this new multigenerational saga from National Book Award finalist Martha McPhee—ten years in the making—explores one family’s story against the sweep of 20th century American history. In “sharp, precise, and yes, elegant” prose (Boston Globe), McPhee “explores the archetypally American virtue of self-invention…This is a portrait of self-creation in the vein of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but without his disenchantment.” (Wall Street Journal).

A profound meditation on memory, history, and legacy, An Elegant Woman follows one woman over the course of the 20th century — taking the reader from a drought-stricken farm in Montana to a yellow Victorian house in Maine; from the halls of a psychiatric hospital in London to a wedding gown fitting at Bergdorf Goodman; from a house in small town Ohio to a family reunion at a sweltering New Jersey pig roast. Entertainment Weekly called McPhee’s ambitious, enthralling story “a rich exploration of legacy and memory. It untangles the sacred myths of an American family, as a woman pieces together the story of her extraordinary — and highly elegant — grandmother.”

McPhee discusses the nature of truth in fiction—“the stories we tell ourselves, and what we leave out”—with esteemed critic and essayist Phillip Lopate.

Click here to register.











When: Wed., Jul. 8, 2020 at 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Where: The National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park S.
212-475-3424
Price: Free, donation suggested
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The National Arts Club presents a conversation between Martha McPhee, author of An Elegant Woman, and Phillip Lopate.

For fans of Mary Beth Keane and Jennifer Egan, this new multigenerational saga from National Book Award finalist Martha McPhee—ten years in the making—explores one family’s story against the sweep of 20th century American history. In “sharp, precise, and yes, elegant” prose (Boston Globe), McPhee “explores the archetypally American virtue of self-invention…This is a portrait of self-creation in the vein of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but without his disenchantment.” (Wall Street Journal).

A profound meditation on memory, history, and legacy, An Elegant Woman follows one woman over the course of the 20th century — taking the reader from a drought-stricken farm in Montana to a yellow Victorian house in Maine; from the halls of a psychiatric hospital in London to a wedding gown fitting at Bergdorf Goodman; from a house in small town Ohio to a family reunion at a sweltering New Jersey pig roast. Entertainment Weekly called McPhee’s ambitious, enthralling story “a rich exploration of legacy and memory. It untangles the sacred myths of an American family, as a woman pieces together the story of her extraordinary — and highly elegant — grandmother.”

McPhee discusses the nature of truth in fiction—“the stories we tell ourselves, and what we leave out”—with esteemed critic and essayist Phillip Lopate.

Click here to register.

Buy tickets/get more info now