I came across it on a BuzzFeed list of 49 underrated books you need to read and, having found myself in the throws of a reading slump last week, I decided to give it a try. I did not regret it, and BuzzFeed was right; I did love it.
Frances and Bernard, written entirely in letters spanning from 1957 to 1968, tells the story of Frances Reardon and Bernard Eliot, two writers who meet at an artist's colony and begin writing each other over the course of a few years. Frances eventually makes her way to New York, where she has a book published. Bernard follows soon after, only for their true story to begin. That's all I can really say about the story without spoiling it. I'm not sure if Frances and Bernard falls into the historical fiction genre, but I definitely believe that it should. No other decades in history stick out as so monumental in terms of social norms and the true definition of oneself. Frances, even though she sees herself as different from her younger sister and relatives who got married and thought it unthinkable to have a career of any kind, is very religious in tone and in her values, which to me points out that even though Frances is a modern woman with liberal aspirations and dreams, she was quite conservative. Everyone seemed to be.
I've seen so many publications describe the 1950s as a period of "rampant conservatism". I think that even though Frances defined herself as not like other women, she was still conserving herself, in a sense, to a norm that society had led her to believe was correct. Sure, conservatives in the 50s and 60s didn't think it was right for a woman not to marry and have a career, but at the same time, women who didn't get married and chose a career also limited themselves to only that, much like Frances. She is so dead set against letting herself fall in love because she believes, even though it is never explicitly said, that she can only have one or the other. A job, career and no man, or a man, no job and no career. That's what norms in those decades taught women to believe was right, and it's all the more sad to read a book like Frances and Bernard and see how limited women were led to believe they were when, in all that time, they could have done so much more. That's not to say Frances didn't do anything, she did lots as a writer, which borders on revolutionary in a time like that, but that was her choice. She didn't want to let herself fall in love because she had to uphold her choice, and ultimately, she lost a lot because of it. Frances wasn't the only character to be historically accurate in terms of social norms, either. Even though Bernard is cute, damaged and really loves Frances, he is a bit of an asshole at times, like I presume most men were in those days. At its core, the book is a beautiful piece of historical fiction showing how much social and cultural norms in those decades influenced people's lives.
Frances and Bernard was barely 200 pages yet I felt like I'd read a 400-page novel when I finished it. Carlene Bauer's writing is beautifully done; I felt as if the letters I was reading had actually been written in the 50s and 60s, which is exactly what I assume the author wanted the reader to feel. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction as well as anyone who enjoys a good love story once in awhile, like me. 5/5 stars.
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