The Sunday Salon and... The Women Behind the Legends: 3 Stories History Almost Let Slip Away.

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's the place where Book Bloggers from around the world share their bookish finds with one another in a virtual place called The Sunday Salon. Thank you to for Deb at ReaderBuzz keeping us all together on Sundays and hosting The Sunday Salon now! I also visited with Kim at The Caffeinated Reader, another Sunday gathering place for us bookish people called The Sunday Post! 

It was another crazy week weather wise in South Carolina this week. A few days of 70 degree weather and then back to the cold 40's. I finally DID plant those seed snails this week! I have been misting them daily and babying them like my first borns. I'll keep you updated on their progress and see if they actually sprout. In the meantime, let's talk about March...

March is Women's History Month, which honors the contributions of women to American history, society, and culture. I’m especially drawn to stories that reimagine these women with vivid detail—pulling us into their worlds in a way that is imaginative, but still honoring the truth of their lives.

There’s something irresistible about stepping into the margins of history—the quiet spaces where women lived, loved, created, and endured… often just out of frame. The ones who inspired greatness, shaped legacies, or carried brilliance of their own, yet somehow didn’t get top billing.

This Women’s History Month, I’m leaning into the stories that rewrite the narrative. 

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain... Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking, fast-living, and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. As Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history and pours himself into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises, Hadley strives to hold on to her sense of self as her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.

I love Paula McLain. She knows how to unbury the lives of forgotten women and give us fresh ways to see them. In The Paris Wife, we meet Hadley Richardson—not just as Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, but as a woman navigating love, loss, and ambition in the glittering chaos of 1920s Paris. (Paula McLain also wrote one of my favorite books, Circling the Sun, about the incredible life of Beryl Markham. Another women left behind in history, and a book I reviewed back in 2016.

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan... At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium—with her three children and nanny in tow—to study art. It is a chance for this adventurous woman to start over, to make a better life for all of them, and to pursue her own desires.  Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists’ colony in France where she can recuperate. Emerging from a deep sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with the earthy, independent, and opinionated “belle Americaine.”

Fanny does not immediately take to the slender young lawyer who longs to devote his life to writing—and who would eventually pen such classics as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson’s charms, and the two begin a fierce love affair—marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness—that spans the decades and the globe. The shared life of these two strong-willed individuals unfolds into an adventure as impassioned and unpredictable as any of Stevenson’s own unforgettable tales.

Another brilliant writer and one of my favorite authors, Nancy Horan also breathes life into the women behind the curtain. In Under the Wide and Starry Sky, Fanny Stevenson refuses to be a footnote, living a bold, unconventional life that spans continents and defies expectations. I loved this book and reviewed in back in 2014. Read my review! (Another wonderful read by Nancy Horan is Loving Frank, about Mamah Borthwick Cheney and her love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright).

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray... In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

 

I have had this in my TBR pile for a long time. It's the perfect time for me to crack the spine during Women's History Month. Belle is another strong and powerful woman who secretly smashes the roof off of the racism that surrounded her. 

These novels don’t just revisit history—they reclaim it, placing women firmly at the center of stories that were never meant to orbit someone else.

Let’s step behind the spotlight for a moment… because that’s where some of the most fascinating stories begin.

Are You Reading Anything Special Because of Women's History Month?

Other great books to consider for Women's History Month (and just for a great read)... The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The Women by Kristin Hannah.

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Weekly Wrap-Up...

Memoir Monday... A Daughter Looks Back on the Woman Who Changed Everything.

Book Release Tuesday... Love, Lies and Larceny: 3 Books Everyone will Be Talking About.

First Lines Friday... Does a Dystopian Love Triangle Sound like Fun?

Book Review... Rivals, Romance and a Whole Lot of Heat: Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood. I really liked this book, check out my review to see if it's something that you'll like too. One of Library Loot books this year. 

Are You Reading Anything Special Because of Women's History Month?

Have you added to your TBR list from my post today?! I hope you've found some great reads! What are you reading this week? Share your bookish finds right here!