Historical March 1986 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Two Mrs. Grenvilles by Dominic Dunne is a book you will hate yourself for liking.
It is excellent sleaze!
The book is based, I am told, on an actual happening in New York during the 1950s.
It is about a small town girl who goes off to the big city to become a nightclub dancer and, because of her remarkable beauty, is able to capture the heart of a handsome, young millionaire. So, Urse Mertens changes her name to Ann Arden, and schemes and manipulates the situation so that she marries Billy Grenville. Alice Grenville, Billy’s mother, is able to see through Ann and is appalled when they marry.
However, Alice grudgingly accepts her and Ann becomes a part of this upper-crust family.
Two children arrive as time marches on and gradually the marriage sours to the point where both parties begin to have affairs on the sly.
Finally, Billy wants a divorce but Ann is unwilling to give up her position in society into which she has clawed her way. Billy, with the help of a private eye, finds out things about Ann’s past which could bring about an annulment.
But before he has the chance to act on this information, Ann shoots him with a double-barrel shotgun; afterwards, she claims she thought he was a prowler.
At this point, the fates of the two Mrs. Grenvilles are sealed. Alice helps cover up the crime in order to save the family from scandal and the two women are bound together in an uneasy truce. Ann leads a useless, empty life globe-trotting but rather than say too much let me finish with the observation that I have heard favorable ‘comments from everyone who has read it and I personally found it to be a page turner. E.L. Docterow’s World’s Fair appealed to me because it promised a lovely walk down memory lane.
If you grew up during the 1930s, if you remember the Depression, or if you happen to be from the Bronx, or any other New York borough this will be a heart warmer for you. I had read Docterow’s The Book of Daniel which is based upon the lives of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg who died in the – electric chair for alleged spying.
His book Ragtime was set in the period before World War I and had such exotic figures in it as Evelyn Nesbett and dealt with such serious subjects as racism. World’s Fair is set in the period leading up’ to the 1939 World’s Fair and the central character is a young Jewish boy who wins an essay contest on the All-American boy which went like this: “He roots for his home team in football and baseball but also plays sports himself.
He reads all the time. It’s all right for him to like comic books so long as he knows they are junk. Also, radio programs and movies may be enjoyed but not at the expense of important things.
In music he appreciates both swing and symphony.
In women he appreciates them all.
He does not waste time daydreaming when he is doing his homework.
He is kind.
He cooperates with his parents.
He knows the value of a dollar.
He looks death in the face.” I cannot help but add — and someday he will write best-selling books.
As stated above, this is a nice heart-warming novel and you don’t have to be a Jewish boy from the Bronx who grew up during the Depression to enjoy it.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, March 1986.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1986_03.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
