Margot, Wendell Steavenson
Margot, Wendell Steavenson
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Margot
A Novel

Author: Wendell Steavenson

Narrator: Karissa Vacker

Unabridged: 8 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/24/2023


Synopsis

A moving portrait of a young woman's struggle to break free of her upper-class upbringing amid the whirlwind years of the sexual revolution.

It's the mid-1950s and Margot Thornsen is growing up between a Park Avenue apartment in New York and her family's sumptuous Oyster Bay estate as the presumed heir to her late grandfather's steel fortune. Her domineering mother has charted a course for her—to forego education and marry well—but Margot is more interested in microscopes and beetles and books. When a devastating fire brings the family legacy crashing down and the sexual revolution dawns, a new path opens up—the expansive world of late-1960s Radcliffe College and the intellectual, cultural, and sexual freedom Margot has been reaching for.

Hailed for her "intelligent and heartfelt fiction" (Kirkus Reviews), Wendell Steavenson writes with grace, precision, and great psychological perception. With Margot, she has crafted a vivid portrayal of the quiet torment of young women of its era, a comically caustic mother-daughter story, and a memorable evocation of one woman's passion for the wonder of science.

About Wendell Steavenson

Wendell Steavenson, whose writing has appeared in The New Yorker, the Financial Times, and Granta, is the author of the novel Paris Metro and three books of reporting. Born in New York, and raised in London, she now lives in Paris.


Reviews

Margot by Wendell Steavenson was a very moving and thought provoking book. It examined an upper class dysfunctional family through the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s. Margot was the first book that I had the pleasure of reading by Wendell Steavenson. I was drawn in right from the start and enjoyed the de......more

Thanks to @w.w.norton for an ARC of #Margot.⁣ I’m struggling with how to rate books that I’m fully invested in for the majority of the book, but find the ending is lacking in some way. That was the case for me with 𝘈𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘝𝘪𝘤𝘦 by Deepti Kapoor and it’s definitely the case with 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗚𝗢𝗧 by Wendell Steav......more

Goodreads review by Judy

I enjoyed this novel and might never have heard of it if not for The Nervous Breakdown Book Club (lately renamed The Otherppl Book Club.) The author has been an intrepid journalist covering events in Iraq, Egypt and post communist Georgia. She also has a previous novel, Paris Metro. Thus, Margot is h......more

Goodreads review by Judy

Acclaimed journalist turned novelist Wendell Steavenson delivers a humorous, razor-sharp, moving and insightful coming-of-age tale following the journey of Margot Thornsen—titled MARGOT, set in New York during the exciting political and sexual revolutions of the 50s and 60s. At age eight, we meet Ma......more