USA Today bestselling author Jillian Cantor reimagines and expands on the literary classic The Great Gatsby in this atmospheric historical novel with echoes of Big Little Lies, told in three women's alternating voices.
On a sultry August day in 1922, Jay Gatsby is shot dead in his West Egg swimming pool. To the police, it appears to be an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide when the body of George Wilson, a local mechanic, is found in the woods nearby.
Then a diamond hairpin is discovered in the bushes by the pool, and three women fall under suspicion. Each holds a key that can unlock the truth to the mysterious life and death of this enigmatic millionaire.
Daisy Buchanan once thought she might marry Gatsby—before her family was torn apart by an unspeakable tragedy that sent her into the arms of the philandering Tom Buchanan.
Jordan Baker, Daisy's best friend, guards a secret that derailed her promising golf career and threatens to ruin her friendship with Daisy as well.
Catherine McCoy, a suffragette, fights for women's freedom and independence, and especially for her sister, Myrtle Wilson, who's trapped in a terrible marriage.
Their stories unfold in the years leading up to that fateful summer of 1922, when all three of their lives are on the brink of unraveling. Each woman is pulled deeper into Jay Gatsby's romantic obsession, with devastating consequences for all of them.
Jillian Cantor revisits the glittering Jazz Age world of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, retelling this timeless American classic from the women's perspective. Beautiful Little Fools is a quintessential tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately the murder of a man tormented by the past and driven by a destructive longing that can never be fulfilled.
USA Today bestselling author Jillian Cantor reimagines and expands on the literary classic The Great Gatsby in this atmospheric historical novel with echoes of Big Little Lies, told in three women's alternating voices.
On a sultry August day in 1922, Jay Gatsby is shot dead in his West Egg swimming pool. To the police, it appears to be an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide when the body of George Wilson, a local mechanic, is found in the woods nearby.
Then a diamond hairpin is discovered in the bushes by the pool, and three women fall under suspicion. Each holds a key that can unlock the truth to the mysterious life and death of this enigmatic millionaire.
Daisy Buchanan once thought she might marry Gatsby—before her family was torn apart by an unspeakable tragedy that sent her into the arms of the philandering Tom Buchanan.
Jordan Baker, Daisy's best friend, guards a secret that derailed her promising golf career and threatens to ruin her friendship with Daisy as well.
Catherine McCoy, a suffragette, fights for women's freedom and independence, and especially for her sister, Myrtle Wilson, who's trapped in a terrible marriage.
Their stories unfold in the years leading up to that fateful summer of 1922, when all three of their lives are on the brink of unraveling. Each woman is pulled deeper into Jay Gatsby's romantic obsession, with devastating consequences for all of them.
Jillian Cantor revisits the glittering Jazz Age world of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, retelling this timeless American classic from the women's perspective. Beautiful Little Fools is a quintessential tale of money and power, marriage and friendship, love and desire, and ultimately the murder of a man tormented by the past and driven by a destructive longing that can never be fulfilled.
Critiques-
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Starred review from November 1, 2021
Cantor (Half Life) succeeds brilliantly with this audacious revisionist murder mystery featuring characters from The Great Gatsby. In Fitzgerald’s version, it was George Wilson who killed Jay Gatsby. Here, Cantor imagines a woman shooting Gatsby in “heat...anger...and...madness.” Three women figure prominently in the narrative. There’s “careless, carefree” Daisy Buchanan from Louisville, Ky., who “wanted to be someone who mattered”; her ambitious, sporty childhood best friend, Jordan Baker, who is embroiled in a women’s golf circuit scandal; and Catherine McCoy, who leaves the family farm for New York City, where she works for the National Women’s League, attends suffrage meetings, and worries about the bruises on her sister. Cantor successfully captures the style and tone of the 1925 novel with vivid details, such as Daisy’s “lavish honeymoon in the South Seas”; a life of luxury in Santa Barbara, Calif.; a Cannes chateau; and the ultimate extravagances of East Egg. Also featuring into the story is Det. Frank Charles, who believes everyone he interrogates about Gatsby’s death is an “incurable liar.” Loneliness, homesickness, and the “forever endless winding river” of grief pursue Daisy as justice is served. Proving once again that it is “hard to forget the past,” Cantor’s admirably convincing act of literary skullduggery offers many rewards. Agent: Jessica Regal, Foundry Media. -
April 1, 2022
The women closest to the late Jay Gatsby finally have their say in Cantor's (The Lost Letter; Margot) retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's literary classic, The Great Gatsby. It begins with Gatsby lying dead and the women in his life being questioned about their connections to the young New England millionaire by the detective in charge of investigating Gatsby's murder. Daisy Buchanan may have loved Gatsby as a young woman in Kentucky during the war, but she has moved on now and is trying to save her troubled marriage to Tom Buchanan. Cantor's Daisy still loves Tom, despite his affairs, and wants their marriage to work for the sake of herself and their young daughter. Jordan Baker, Daisy's confidante and childhood friend, is pursuing her own passions, which include professional golf and a forbidden lifestyle. And suffragette Catherine McCoy, who remained Gatsby's friend after their brief romantic relationship, has unknowingly helped Gatsby--while he was still alive--use her sister Myrtle to get close to Tom Buchanan and further erode Daisy's marriage. The audiobook of Cantor's historical novel is narrated by Cassandra Campbell, Elizabeth Evans, George Newbern Brittany Pressley, and Julia Whelan, who deliver the perfect amount of subtlety as they read for characters based in New England and the American South. VERDICT Cantor's is an engaging and well-written reimagining of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of women of differing backgrounds and social classes in a 1920s United States.--Laura Brosie
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