Thursday, February 14, 2013

Forever Valentines: Zelda and Scott


On this day of hearts and flowers, we can’t help but daydream about literary loves. We’re not talking Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy, Odysseus and Penelope, or even Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. No, we’re swooning over real, in-the-flesh romances, the muses behind such literary geniuses as Shelley, Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald (to delve further into famous literary liasons, read Between The Sheets).

The passionate love affair between Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald has been one of the most tragic and storied romances of our time. Broken by mental illness, alcoholism, adulterous relationships, and financial ruin, the devoted pair—soul mates and Jazz Age sweethearts—were fiercely loyal to their love for one another even as their marriage floundered amidst the obstacles that would have sooner torn others apart.

Ever Scott’s muse, Zelda has been reflected in much of Fitzgerald’s writing including the characters Nicole and Daisy in Tender is the Night and The Great Gatsby, respectively. This summer Zelda and Scott’s love story is illuminated in a stunning new novel from R. Clifton Spargo: BEAUTIFUL FOOLS: The Last Affair of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald which examines their last meeting on Cuban holiday during the end of the 1930s. In poignant, stunning detail, Spargo richly imagines the golden couple’s final goodbye in a story thrumming with the hope and heartbreak that often accompanies second chances and fractured love.  From the streets of Old City in Havana to the white-sanded beaches on the peninsula of Varadero, we follow Zelda and Scott as they cling desperately to the memories of the twenties in an attempt to renew the romance that long defined them.

“Studying her face, patient and gentle, youthful today as when he first met her, he could remember the possibilities he’d written for them.”

Mark your calendars: AVAILABLE MAY 2!


No comments: