A Memoir of Friendship by Blanche Howard
by Wendy MacDonald - Tuesday Jun 24 2008 10:46 am
Posted in: Reviews

A Memoir of Friendship: The Letters Between Carol Shields and Blanche Howard presents the thirty year correspondence (from 1973 until Carol's death in 2003) between two friends, both of them "women of letters ... mothers, wives and thinkers."

The correspondence began with Carol's request for advice regarding her first publishing contract, a request accompanied by a statement that she has an "overwhelmimg wish to talk to someone about writing". Blanche, already a published author, was quick to respond, and thus began a friendship which ultimately resulted in over 1000 pages of correspondence.

Neither woman could have anticipated at that time what fate had in store for them, particularly the fame that would one day bring the whole world to Carol Shield's doorstep. (How ironic it is to read in that first letter Carol's request for writing advice!)

The letters and e-mails, telephone calls and visits referred to in this volume touch on all aspects of the writing process, including the genesis of some of Carol's greatest books, such as The Stone Diaries, Larry's Party, and the novel Carol and Blanche co-authored, The Celibate Season. Their letters deal also with their domestic lives and responsibilities, but the main focus is on their mutual love of writing. Particularly fascinating is the unobtrusive manner in which Carol was gradually acquiring great power as a result of her prodigious literary output.

Their letters are divided into different time periods and it is in the period from 2000 to 2003 that the two friends begin a dialogue concerning the meaning of life , a dialogue which becomes more poignant as Carol struggles with her illness and the "Dark Night of the Soul."

This book is an odyssey, an intimate portrait of two loyal, generous spirits, faithful to their friendship and to their shared love of writing. A superb read.

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