JUST TRY AND PUT THIS BOOK DOWN
First-time author Jeanne Blasberg writes a Beacon Hill page-turner.
From her Harvard Business School provenance to her ascendance in the world of US squash, Jeanne Blasberg knows how to achieve. So when the revelation of a long-held family secret got her asking some “what-ifs” about her own life, Blasberg didn’t hesitate to take on the title of first-time author. “I always played these different scenarios around in my head,” explains the Beacon Hill resident, until eventually they formed the core of
Eden, a page-turning family saga revolving around the impending loss of a New England summer home, matriarchy gone astray, long lost children, and a squandered family fortune.
The goal: “I wanted to write about how things repeat themselves through the generations of a family, and at the same time, how the circumstances for women in the 20th century have changed so rapidly.”
The setting: The book takes place at an intergenerational summer home, where an affluent family has worked very hard to keep up appearances. “The house is called Eden,” explains Blasberg. “It’s all about unattainable paradise.”
True to life? “Early on, I was told that this book can’t be an autobiographical exercise in which you’re dealing with your issues, because that will come across and nobody will want to read it.”
The takeaway: “I wrote the book to honor the unspoken voices and unheard stories of women who lived the generation or two before me.” Launch Party: Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusets Ave., May 19, 7 pm .