';A memoir of three generations of women rich in historical detail'from the Civil War to the Jazz Age (Kirkus Reviews). Shortly after her mother's death in 2011, Sallie Bingham discovered a blue box in her mother's closet containing the forgotten remnants of her foremothers' lives. From her great-grandmother Sallie, was a gilded memoir written for her children during her final years; from her grandmother, Helena, a book of short stories she'd published called Legends of Virginia; and her mother, Mary, had left behind a grand romance in letters documenting her four-year courtship to the man who'd become Sallie Bingham's father. Long before Sallie knew the details of these women's lives she recognized the steel thread that ran through their personalities: resilience and indomitability. But to what extent did this steel thread tie up their secrets? How closely linked were their unquestioned feelings of Southern superioritysocial, racial, moral, intellectualto their ability to survive, even flourish, as their fortunes sank and rose? For years, Sallie could only speculate. Out of this astonishing 150-year treasure trove, Sallie Bingham has woven ';more than a memoir; it's an historical account of the legacies, heritages and travails of three generations of Southern women... in the living language of complex and exquisitely-preserved letters. Sallie Bingham's meticulous and comprehensive work gives us a glimpse into another worldpreviously frozen in a ';cornflower blue' time capsule' (Bowling Green Daily News).
This family history centered around three women from three generations spans the Civil War through the Jazz Age. Fans of Sallie Bingham's work will especially appreciate her parents Mary and Barry's romance that unfolds in letters and finally results in marriage. Bingham beautifully demonstrates an inheritance of emotion, morality, ideology, and most lasting of all, irreverence.
Sallie Bingham has published four short story collections, four novels, a memoir, and several plays. Bingham was a director of the National Book Critics Circle, and founded the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Sallie Bingham Archive for Women's Papers and Culture at Duke University.