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Tenderness
Tenderness | Alison Macleod
8 posts | 4 read | 8 to read
"Powerful, moving, brilliant . . . an utterly captivating read, and I came away from it with this astonished thought: There's nothing this writer can't do." --Elizabeth Gilbert For readers of A Gentleman in Moscow and Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, an ambitious, spellbinding historical novel about sensuality, censorship, and the novel that set off the sexual revolution. On the glittering shores of the Mediterranean in 1928, a dying author in exile races to complete his final novel. Lady Chatterley's Lover is a sexually bold love story, a searing indictment of class distinctions, and a study in sensuality. But the author, D.H. Lawrence, knows it will be censored. He publishes it privately, loses his copies to customs, and dies bereft. Booker Prize-longlisted author Alison MacLeod brilliantly recreates the novel's origins and boldly imagines its journey to freedom through the story of Jackie Kennedy, who was known to be an admirer. In MacLeod's telling, Jackie-in her last days before becoming first lady-learns that publishers are trying to bring D.H. Lawrence's long-censored novel to American and British readers in its full form. The U.S. government has responded by targeting the postal service for distributing obscene material. Enjoying what anonymity she has left, determined to honor a novel she loves, Jackie attends the hearing incognito. But there she is quickly recognized, and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover takes note of her interest and her outrage. Through the story of Lawrence's writing of Lady Chatterley's Lover, the historic obscenity trial that sought to suppress it in the United Kingdom, and the men and women who fought for its worldwide publication, Alison MacLeod captures the epic sweep of the twentieth century from war and censorship to sensuality and freedom. Exquisite, evocative, and grounded in history, Tenderness is a testament to the transformative power of fiction.
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LeahBergen
Tenderness | Alison Macleod
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Thank you so much for this behemoth of a birthday book, @TrishB ! 😆

It had somehow flown completely below my radar but it sounds WONDERFUL and just my sort of thing (and I‘m never afraid of a good chunkster 😆).

Thank you! ❤️❤️❤️

sarahbarnes This sounds fantastic! 1y
LeahBergen @sarahbarnes It really does! 1y
TrishB I‘m very tempted myself! Hope you‘re having a lovely day ❤️ 1y
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LeahBergen @TrishB I was wondering if you‘d read it! Thanks so much again. ❤️❤️ 1y
Cathythoughts Looks like a good one ! Look forward to your thoughts when you get there. 1y
Cathythoughts I‘m tempted too 😁 @TrishB 👍🏻 (edited) 1y
LeahBergen @Cathythoughts It‘s a great big book but looks really captivating! 1y
63 likes2 stack adds7 comments
review
Abailliekaras
Tenderness | Alison Macleod
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Pickpick

I enjoyed this sumptuous historical novel, though it was ambitious in the stories it merged and its sheer length. The characters came to life with lively story-telling & it gives a behind-the-scenes feel for how D H Lawrence, Jackie Kennedy & J Edgar Hoover operated. The obscenity trial scenes were propulsive & dramatic. Some plot points seemed unlikely but Macleod gives motive to her characters so it feels real. An immersive, layered story.

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review
Penny_LiteraryHoarders
Tenderness | Alison Macleod
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Pickpick

Beautiful writing and subjects made for a very satisfying reading experience.

vivastory I added this one to my TBR last night after watching a BookTube video 2y
Penny_LiteraryHoarders @vivastory the Jackie Kennedy and FBI parts were my favourite. 2y
27 likes2 stack adds2 comments
review
Brimful
Tenderness | Alison Macleod
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Pickpick

This scholarly and beautifully written novel highlights the remarkable coincidence of the publication of Lady Chatterley‘s Lover and the election of a young progressive President making it clear that nothing was inevitable about either and that progress comes with hard work intelligence and not a little luck. But most of all the novel highlights the beauty and tenderness of Lawrence‘s work and the passion that great literature inspires

Vansa Having just begun reading Lawrence this year, can fully agree with that-I feel the sort of nudge-nudge-wink rep that Lawrence has ( at least to me) is completely undeserved, his books are so much more profound than merely a few sex scenes. They're explorations of the constraints of women's lives, in a time when even education was restricted-a situation in many parts of the world even today. 2y
Brimful I think you are exactly right. And McLeod makes the case brilliantly. I think you would love her book although it‘s quite a commitment! 2y
10 likes2 comments
blurb
Penny_LiteraryHoarders
Tenderness | Alison Macleod
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An Officer and a Spy was just not working for me, so I‘m hoping Tenderness sticks! Writing so far is lovely. Wine is Pelee Island‘s Lighthouse Riesling. Cheers!

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Brimful
Tenderness | Alison Macleod
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It‘s pretty daunting starting a 600 page book particularly when a fellow Litsy reader bailed in chapter one. But armed with recommendations from Elif Shafak Madeline Miller and the lonesome reader I am giving it a try. It is another of my half price hardback Waterstones sale picks. And of all the books I chose this is the chunkiest. A good warm up for To Paradise?

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Brimful
Tenderness | Alison Macleod
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Readers are keepers of secrets:as an illicit page is turned, as a dangerous truth is inferred. The pulse quickens. Something explosive ticks between the lines. There is an intake of breath; the voyeur‘s silent flare of recognition. All the while, his or her face is impassive, unresponsive even, because like all subversives readers lead careful double lives.

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ferskner
Tenderness | Alison Macleod
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Bailedbailed

This book may be great, I don't know, but there was a sentence in the first chapter that was so stupid and gratuitous that I immediately quit. (Only posting this for #scarathlon points :) )

#scarathlon2021 #teamhendrix @StayCurious