Clair de Lune: A Novel

by Jetta Carleton

Overview

With its atmospheric story of small-town dreams and romance, Clair de Lune weaves an irresistible spell of longing, hope, love, and nostalgia. A newly discovered novel by Jetta Carleton, Clair de Lune will delight the legions of readers who have treasured her first—and, until now, only—published novel, The Moonflower Vine. A book of unsurpassable literary fiction, Clair de Lune is sure to strike a chord with readers of Nancy Turner’s These Is My Words, Alice McDermott’s After This, and Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062089199
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	03/06/2012
Series:	P.S. Series
Edition description:	Original
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Jetta Carleton (1913-1999) moved from Holden, Missouri, to New York City to work as a television copywriter for national advertising agencies. Her widely beloved New York Times bestseller The Moonflower Vine was, until now, her only published novel.

Editorial Reviews

Arriving nearly 50 years after her bestselling debut, The Moonflower Vine, Carleton’s (1913–1999) second novel is a witty and romantic portrait of a young Midwestern woman coming to grips with adulthood and the responsibilities that come with it. Miss Allen Liles, fresh out of college, is bound by expectations. Her dream is to venture to New York City and become a writer, but because that is far from practical, she takes what her mother believes is the safest path: a teaching job at a junior college. Wanting to do more than just get by, Allen decides to make her mark on the institution by teaching a seminar on the modern American novel. When Allen forms a strong bond with two of her students, continuing to discuss literature with them outside of the confines of the classroom, and then falls for one of them, she risks everything for love, which makes Carleton’s novel appear to be just another tale of a woman’s fall from grace. Luckily, it’s much more than that. While some of Allen’s mid-book interactions with secondary characters may seem extraneous, in the end, every character serves a purpose. Moreover, there are notable similarities between Allen’s America of 1941, and the America of today. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Arriving nearly 50 years after her bestselling debut, The Moonflower Vine, Carleton’s second novel is a witty and romantic portrait of a young Midwestern woman coming to grips with adulthood and the responsibilities that come with it.” — Publishers Weekly

“Evocative … Fine and dry, with a faint flavor of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Carleton’s vignette of innocence and experience has a bright wit and perceptive charm, rendered all the more enjoyable by its retro feel.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Newly discovered, the evocative fable of a young teacher's brush with professional disaster during a simpler-seeming era. Carleton, who died in 1999 and is known for a single, bestselling book, The Moonflower Vine (1962), also, it turns out, wrote another, set in 1941 and capturing a mood of youthful passion increasingly overshadowed by war. Allen Liles, 25 and fresh out of university, takes up a job teaching English at a small-town college in Missouri, a hiatus, she hopes, before moving to New York to become a writer. Two of her brightest students, George and Toby, fall into the habit of visiting her out of hours in her apartment, where the trio loses itself in poetry, music, ideas and heady enjoyment of the night. This chaste rhapsody of exuberant idealism leads to an even closer relationship between Allen and Toby, which breaks up before it is consummated. Nevertheless, the indiscretion has been noted, and Allen quickly realizes her foolishness, vulnerability and shame. With the support of the dean, she survives this near-catastrophe and tries to conform, yet the lure of the alternative is still with her. Fine and dry, with a faint flavor of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Carleton's vignette of innocence and experience has a bright wit and perceptive charm, rendered all the more enjoyable by its retro feel.

Kirkus Reviews

Miss Allen Liles is beginning her first job as a teacher at a small junior college in 1941 just before the U.S. enters WWII. She is young, naïve, and filled with a love of literature. Natalie Ross’s soft, calming voice sets a nostalgic tone and captivates the listener with the lush narrative and Allen’s inner thoughts. Ross charmingly portrays Allen’s youthful innocence as she crosses over the line of appropriate behavior with a male student, her ignorance about the imminent war, and her desire for something more exciting than a teaching job. In contrast to Allen’s authentic voice, the other characters’ voices seem overplayed. However, the overall effect is a delightful breeze through the past. M.M.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

MAY 2012 - AudioFile

Miss Allen Liles is beginning her first job as a teacher at a small junior college in 1941 just before the U.S. enters WWII. She is young, naïve, and filled with a love of literature. Natalie Ross’s soft, calming voice sets a nostalgic tone and captivates the listener with the lush narrative and Allen’s inner thoughts. Ross charmingly portrays Allen’s youthful innocence as she crosses over the line of appropriate behavior with a male student, her ignorance about the imminent war, and her desire for something more exciting than a teaching job. In contrast to Allen’s authentic voice, the other characters’ voices seem overplayed. However, the overall effect is a delightful breeze through the past. M.M.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

MAY 2012 - AudioFile