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Overview
In this masterful debut, Pamela Thompson reveals the pain and desire of one woman, the wife of 19th Century painter, Edwin Romanzon Elmer, as she searches for her lovers in New York City over five days of wishes and regrets in November 1899.When your heart is broken, every past thing becomes strange.
In 1899, the streets of New York were as unsettled as the heart and body of Mary Jane Elmer. The ideas of the transcendentalists had taken root, and thoughts of a second revolution were rising. Emma Goldman spoke to ever-growing numbers of the disenfranchised in Union Square and scandalized the city fathers. Police used horses, clubs and bullets to disperse the crowds. Women were redefining their roles for the coming century. And, at 40 years of age, solitary in marriage to a brilliant and talented man and still grieving the death of their daughter ten years past, Mary tries her best to find a future she can endure.
Writing in a voice that is filled with longing, Thompson captures an emotional whirlwind of art, politics, family, and desire with an authenticity that is absolutely breathtaking. Every Past Thing is an enduring novel, as personal as it is historic.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
A woman solicits a reunion with her former lover at the end of the 19th century in Thompson's debut novel, embarking on an overwrought reappraisal of her tragic past. At a notorious East Village anarchist watering hole (and also the last known address of her former secret beau, Jimmy Roberts), Mary Jane records in her notebook the events that have led her and her husband, the painter Edwin Romanzo Elmer, to New York City: the death of their only child, Effie; their estrangement and reunion with Edwin's imposing and wealthy brother, Samuel; and their family and social circle's tension-fraught relationships. Mary's days of secret escape are contrasted against Edwin's private turmoil as he struggles to secure a place at the National Academy of Design, while his thoughts are distracted by his wife's suspicious absences. Though the novel covers the course of a week, flashbacks expand the story's breadth and scope. Portentous prose may make a tough go of the novel's first half, but narrative urgency grows, albeit slowly, as connections between the characters are revealed. Readers fond of late 19th- century literature will appreciate this florid trip back in time. (Sept.)
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