I started this but decided not to finish. The first story was an interesting look into the lives of a pair of conjoined twins that I'd not heard of. The second was a creepy and twisted look into the life of a narcissistic lesbian trans woman and her lovers. Half way into that one, I lost interest. I probably would be interested in reading about Allegra Byron but I'm sure there are better biographies out there. This author is too crass for my tastes which makes me see her as uneducated. I feel like I'm wasting my time reading this.

This book and I got a bit of a wrong start. I was expecting (looking really forward to) reading about these almost famous women as a nonfiction book. But it turned out to be historical fiction instead. But I prevailed and I actually liked most of the stories since. For instance, we get to know Dolly Wilde, Oscar Wilde’s niece, Butterfly McQueen who was in Gone with the Wind, author Bery Markham, the painter Romaine Remains etc. Some people in the book had I heard of before, some I hadn’t.

But there were things with the book that bemused me like for instance a chapter about Allegra Byron, Lord Byron’s daughter, she was 5 when she died, hardly a famous woman, more like a famous child or, at least, a famous girl. Then we have a chapter called The Interness about the liberation of Bergen-Belsen in 1945. Every other chapter up till then had been about one famous woman; this was about how expired lipstick was given to the women in the concentrations camp. Felt a bit like this story should have been in another book that was more about groups of women, like suffragettes. Last but not least the Lottery, redux, this is a “cover story” of Shirley Jacksons “The Lottery”. Good story but why put a pure fiction story, a remake of a classic, in a book about almost famous women that have actually lived?

In the end, I liked the book. It was interesting and many of the women did I google to find out more about. Btw that was also a problem, a short biography before every chapter had have been nice. Now it felt that Megan Mayhew Bergman felt that the reader, of course, knows everything about the women that the story is about. (But this is an ARC this could change in the finished book.)

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

I love this book so hard. So hard I'm probably going to purchase it, which is big for me. It's a set of short stories about women who were on the fringes of fame. Stories about the girls in the background, who were forgotten, neglected, part of the scenery of other, more spectacular lives. The author has given voices to women whose whispers were too soft to resonate through the years. And it's feminist as hell. So there's that, too. ( )

A big 'thank you' to Scribner for the ARC via NetGalley.

Deciding to write fiction inspired by real people is always a brave step, and it takes a special blend of creativity and delicacy in handling the source material to produce something literary that at the same time rings true. This particular collection accomplishes that mission brilliantly. Straight from the footnotes of history, stunning women who lived extraordinary lives and loved passionate loves come to life, surrounded by tastefully inserted fictional characters who lend them additional humanity and feeling.
The sheer variety of narrative angle and viewpoint is fantastic, and at no point do the stories feel overburdened with fact - there is just enough to pique one's interest and inspire further inquiries. As to its literariness, the most relevant standard it lives up to is that the stories can stand on their own outside of their historical context. However, it is imperative to know that these women were as real as you and I are now, and most importantly, they finally have a voice of their own.
Thoroughly researched and teeming with freshness, Bergman's tender, but unapologetic prose is a huge step towards righting a great historical wrong. Of special interest is the list of resources the author used, which make for a fantastic 'further reading' list. ( )

Overall, I really enjoyed these stories. Only one just didn't work for me and I gave up on it. Interested in reading more about several of the women featured. ( )