Rebecca Godfrey & Leslie Jamison: Peggy, 9781473605756, Penguin Random House, pub date: August

This fresh,  fictional and quite literary interpretation of Peggy Guggenheim's well documented life was a wonderful read. 

I enjoyed Rebecca Godfrey's different approach to tell Peggy's life through her voice from early childhood up until she decides to collect avantgarde art. It is  a very different picture from the men consuming legendary art collector she is mostly portraited as. The novel sees her as a shy, spoiled, wealthy child used to a sheltered upper class Jewish life, with two sisters and an anxious mother until her beloved father dies on the Titanic. Tragedy remains part of their family life but after Peggy marries and has two children, her actions become bolder and more daring particulary after she realizes that she feels best in the company of artists and writers.  Her affair with the young Samuel Beckett has a special place in the novel. 

Its an interesting fictional biography that made me see Peggy Guggenheim from a very different perspective.  Sadly the author died when 2/3 of the book was finished,  Leslie Jamison did a great job finishing the novel according to the outline left behind.