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Title details for Peggy by Rebecca Godfrey - Available

Peggy

A Novel

by Rebecca Godfrey
Leslie Jamison
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
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1 of 2 copies available
A dazzling, richly imagined novel about Peggy Guggenheim—a story of art, family, love, and becoming oneself—by the award-winning author of Under the Bridge, now a Hulu limited series starring Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone
“Godfrey brilliantly resurrects the avant-garde adventurer Peggy Guggenheim as a feminist icon for our times.”—Jenny Offill, author of Dept. of Speculation
“Magnificent . . . Readers will be won over by Godfrey’s incandescent portrait of a singular woman.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Venice, 1958. Peggy Guggenheim, heiress and now legendary art collector, sits in the sun at her white marble palazzo on the Grand Canal. She’s in a reflective mood, thinking back on her thrilling, tragic, nearly impossible journey from her sheltered, old-fashioned family in New York to here: iconoclast and independent woman.
Rebecca Godfrey’s Peggy is a blazingly fresh interpretation of a woman who defies every expectation to become an original. The daughter of two Jewish dynasties, Peggy finds her cloistered life turned upside down at fourteen, when her beloved father perishes on the Titanic. His death prompts Peggy to seek a life of passion and personal freedom and, above all, to believe in the transformative power of art. We follow Peggy as she makes her way through the glamorous but sexist and anti-Semitic art worlds of New York and Europe and meet the numerous men who love her (and her money) while underestimating her intellect, talent, and vision. Along the way, Peggy must balance her loyalty to her family with her need to break free from their narrow, snobbish ways and the unexpected restrictions that come with vast fortune.
Rebecca Godfrey’s final book—completed by her friend, the acclaimed writer Leslie Jamison, following Godfrey’s death in 2022—brings to life the woman who helped make the Guggenheim name synonymous with art and genius.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 13, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593741504
      • File size: 346440 KB
      • Duration: 12:01:44

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from June 17, 2024
      This magnificent posthumous novel from Godfrey (Under the Bridge), completed after her death in 2022 by Jamison, concerns the life of heiress and arts patron Peggy Guggenheim. Following her father’s death on the Titanic (a loss compounded by the embarrassing public knowledge that he was accompanied on the voyage by his mistress), Peggy grows increasingly interested in modern art, a passion she shared with her father. She escapes the confines of New York society for Paris in 1920, an invitation from artist Laurence Vail having “put a face on my hope” for a new life. Godfrey covers Peggy’s notable acquisitions and rescue of important modern artworks on the eve of Nazi occupation, and she peppers in appearances from dozens of Peggy’s real-life friends, lovers, and colleagues, including Man Ray, Djuna Barnes, and Emma Goldman. The heart of the novel, though, lies in Godfrey’s depiction of her subject’s evolving mindset. In lively first-person narration, Godfrey captures Peggy’s constant wavering between boldness and self-doubt, between the pull of conventional motherhood and the longing to be free. Looking back on her life at 60, Peggy proudly claims her role in art history: “I could see the start of a new world.... I didn’t make that world. But I helped it survive.” Readers will be won over by Godfrey’s incandescent portrait of a singular woman. Agent: Christy Fletcher, UTA.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Rebecca Lowman presents this provocative novel based on Peggy Guggenheim's diary and other historical sources. Lowman's thoughtful pace serves the narrative well as the listener experiences Peggy's reminiscences of her unconventional life and accomplishments. Because of her inherited wealth, Guggenheim was able to live a flamboyant bohemian existence, but Lowman also depicts her hidden vulnerability due to the early death of her beloved father and her insecurity about her own appearance. As Peggy attracts an eclectic collection of associates, lovers, husbands, and art, Lowman provides subtle characterizations for many of them. Lowman does best with the voice of Peggy herself as she matures into the focused, confident collector who shared her contemporary art with the world. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      January 1, 2025

      Godfrey's (Under the Bridge) posthumous literary historical novel, completed by her friend Leslie Jamison (Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story) after Godfrey's death in 2022, explores the life of art collector and heiress Peggy Guggenheim. In 1958 Venice, Guggenheim reflects on her life, including her privileged childhood in New York and the journey that transformed her into a bold cultural icon. Marked forever by her father's death on the Titanic when she was 14 and constantly frustrated by societal expectations, Peggy seeks a life of passion and personal freedom. Listeners follow her as she navigates the often misogynistic and antisemitic art world in New York and Europe. Rebecca Lowman and Jamison narrate; Lowman is the primary narrator, while Jamison reads the author's note and provides a closing interview. Lowman's measured pace is a steady backdrop for Peggy's many experiences--balancing family loyalty with a desire for independence, navigating relationships with men, and struggling to be recognized for her talent rather than her wealth. In addition to channeling Peggy, Lowman also delivers nuanced characterizations for other figures who came into her life. VERDICT Godfrey paints a magnificent portrait of the woman who transformed the Guggenheim name and fostered a brilliant cultural legacy. Listeners will be enthralled.--Susan McClellan

      Copyright 2025 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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