Bestselling author Whitney Otto’ s Eight Girls Taking Pictures is a profoundly moving portrayal of the lives of women, imagining the
thoughts and circumstances that produced eight famous female
photographers of the twentieth century.
This captivating novel opens in 1917 as Cymbeline Kelley surveys the charred remains of her photography studio, destroyed in a fire started by a woman hired to help take care of the house while Cymbeline pursued her photography career. This tension— between wanting and needing to be two places at once; between domestic duty and ambition; between public and private life; between what’s seen and what’s hidden from view—echoes in the stories of the other seven women in the book. Among them: Amadora Allesbury, who creates a world of color and whimsy in an attempt to recapture the joy lost to WWI; Clara Argento, who finds her voice working alongside socialist revolutionaries in Mexico; Lenny Van Pelt, a gorgeous model who feels more comfortable photographing the deserted towns of the French countryside after WWII than she does at a couture fashion shoot; and Miri Marx, who has traveled the world taking pictures, but also loves her quiet life as a wife and mother in her New York apartment. Crisscrossing the world and a century, Eight Girls Taking Pictures is an affecting meditation on the conflicts women face and the choices they make. These memorable characters seek extraordinary lives through their work, yet they also find meaning and reward in the ordinary tasks of motherhood, marriage, and domesticity. Most of all, this novel is a vivid portrait of women in love—in love with men, other women, children, their careers, beauty, and freedom.
As she did in her bestselling novel How to Make an American Quilt, Whitney Otto offers a finely woven, textured inquiry into the intersecting lives of women. Eight Girls Taking Pictures is her most ambitious book: a bold, immersive, and unforgettable narrative that shows how the art, loves, and lives of the past influence our present.
Cathy says:
"Whitney Otto is masterful in telling the stories of eight women photographers. Their creative lives,struggles balancing family and work, politics (sexual and other), their place within the art community and the world events of the 20th Century that had such a dramatic impact are all skillfully told and intricately woven together to create an unforgettable novel. These complicated women accompanied by their lovers, friends, families and occasional nemesis, along with their amazing works of art, are still with me, with the added bonus of having a whole new appreciation of photography. Yes, it is fiction but Otto has drawn from the lives of gifted, renowned photographers. The stories behind the images, whether real or fictional are compelling, inspiring and very entertaining to boot. What a feast of a novel!"
Every now and then we encounter a new book that we’re so
excited about we want to shout it from the rooftops, so we've created a
special tag to distinguish it from the rest: TC VIB (very impressive book)! That means it’s a true stand-out in a season of many excellent and compelling new books.
This captivating novel opens in 1917 as Cymbeline Kelley surveys the charred remains of her photography studio, destroyed in a fire started by a woman hired to help take care of the house while Cymbeline pursued her photography career. This tension— between wanting and needing to be two places at once; between domestic duty and ambition; between public and private life; between what’s seen and what’s hidden from view—echoes in the stories of the other seven women in the book. Among them: Amadora Allesbury, who creates a world of color and whimsy in an attempt to recapture the joy lost to WWI; Clara Argento, who finds her voice working alongside socialist revolutionaries in Mexico; Lenny Van Pelt, a gorgeous model who feels more comfortable photographing the deserted towns of the French countryside after WWII than she does at a couture fashion shoot; and Miri Marx, who has traveled the world taking pictures, but also loves her quiet life as a wife and mother in her New York apartment. Crisscrossing the world and a century, Eight Girls Taking Pictures is an affecting meditation on the conflicts women face and the choices they make. These memorable characters seek extraordinary lives through their work, yet they also find meaning and reward in the ordinary tasks of motherhood, marriage, and domesticity. Most of all, this novel is a vivid portrait of women in love—in love with men, other women, children, their careers, beauty, and freedom.
As she did in her bestselling novel How to Make an American Quilt, Whitney Otto offers a finely woven, textured inquiry into the intersecting lives of women. Eight Girls Taking Pictures is her most ambitious book: a bold, immersive, and unforgettable narrative that shows how the art, loves, and lives of the past influence our present.
"Whitney Otto is masterful in telling the stories of eight women photographers. Their creative lives,struggles balancing family and work, politics (sexual and other), their place within the art community and the world events of the 20th Century that had such a dramatic impact are all skillfully told and intricately woven together to create an unforgettable novel. These complicated women accompanied by their lovers, friends, families and occasional nemesis, along with their amazing works of art, are still with me, with the added bonus of having a whole new appreciation of photography. Yes, it is fiction but Otto has drawn from the lives of gifted, renowned photographers. The stories behind the images, whether real or fictional are compelling, inspiring and very entertaining to boot. What a feast of a novel!"
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