I stumbled across this book in one of my many bookish meanderings (I blame it, or maybe thank, those virtual cookies that follow me around). It is proving to be very interesting and I think it will be a really good read if the first chapter is anything to go by! I love memoirs and as an inveterate listmaker myself, one about a woman written by her granddaughter (and created by way of a book of lists the grandmother kept) intrigues me.
Lulah Ellender learned about her grandmother's interesting life by way of a journal that her mother passed on to her. She wrote Elisabeth's Lists: A Life Between the Lines to shed light on the life of this fascinating woman long after she was gone. She notes that she had to read between the lines of this journal made up of ordinary lists. The truth of her grandmother's life is filtered through her own memories and ideas.
"Until now, Elisabeth's absence has always been a presence, her story spun from the feathered filaments of my memories. My mother spoke often of her parents, but there was always a sense of slippage; her memories are hazy and she really didn't know them (if any of us truly know our parents). But I realise that Elisabeth's book of lists might allow me to discover who Elisabeth really was, and to draw out the stories hidden between scripted lines."
Elisabeth was the daughter of a diplomat and when she was 21 her family moved to China where her father became the ambassador. This was 1936, such a different era and surely she was part of a lucky class of people to live in extraordinary circumstances. I am not sure if this will be the tone of her life always, but being the daughter of a diplomat gave her certain privileges, and through letters Ellender gets a picture of what life was like fer her at the time.
"Her time is spent riding, playing tennis,learning Chinese and socialising. Elisabeth is much in demand and there are plenty of alcohol-fueled high jinks. I find a note from Elisabeth and Alethea (her younger sister) asking that instead of the waffle-iron they requested, they should be sent some goldfish bowls, so they could drink brandy from them."
Isn't that crazy? Was that a thing? To drink brandy from goldfish bowls (maybe I will google that). It feels like something out of a 1930s novel! I think I am definitely going to enjoy this one!