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A review by mxd
The Queen of Whale Cay by Kate Somerscale
4.0
A while back I read Mrs Robinson's Disgrace by Kate Summerscale, a book I enjoyed immensely (and then proceeded to push on to anyone who would listen - no regrets). Obviously, I then decided to find everything else Summerscale has written and add to my reading list
This time Summerscale's subject is Marion Barbara Carstairs who lived out her life as Joe Carstairs, rejecting gender roles (lived out her life as a chap), rejecting the expectations of the age (she was a power boat racer) and pretty much rejecting anything that didn't make her happy (her childhood, her parents, her name). She lived what was for her time a very out and proud life. Of course, it helped that she was an heiress with loads of money.
This slim volume paints a vivid picture of a headstrong and fearless person, and though I got the feeling that the author was under her subject's spell a little, concentrating more on what made Joe remarkable rather than what made her dislikeable, it was easy to momentarily fall under that spell too (though mostly I thought Joe was a bit of a dick).
Joe was a thrill seeker, wanting a life of adventure and action. She drove an ambulance during the war, used her boats for a spot of piracy as well as transporting bootleg liquor during prohibition. A privileged brat who was a product of the colonial age, she had no qualms about owning an island and its people. She did quite a lot for the people of her island, but with her benevolence came also a low opinion of her islanders and the assumption that they needed her to civilize them. Having said that, she probably still had a better handle on race relations than a lot of her contemporaries. She also had flings with Marlene Dietrich as well as Oscar Wilde's niece Dolly Wilde, leading the kind of life that would already be a Hollywood movie had she been born a man.
It's a book I'd thoroughly recommend the book to anyone wanting to read about interesting women and LGBT figures. Some undesirable personality traits aside, Joe was a remarkable character.
This time Summerscale's subject is Marion Barbara Carstairs who lived out her life as Joe Carstairs, rejecting gender roles (lived out her life as a chap), rejecting the expectations of the age (she was a power boat racer) and pretty much rejecting anything that didn't make her happy (her childhood, her parents, her name). She lived what was for her time a very out and proud life. Of course, it helped that she was an heiress with loads of money.
This slim volume paints a vivid picture of a headstrong and fearless person, and though I got the feeling that the author was under her subject's spell a little, concentrating more on what made Joe remarkable rather than what made her dislikeable, it was easy to momentarily fall under that spell too (though mostly I thought Joe was a bit of a dick).
Joe was a thrill seeker, wanting a life of adventure and action. She drove an ambulance during the war, used her boats for a spot of piracy as well as transporting bootleg liquor during prohibition. A privileged brat who was a product of the colonial age, she had no qualms about owning an island and its people. She did quite a lot for the people of her island, but with her benevolence came also a low opinion of her islanders and the assumption that they needed her to civilize them. Having said that, she probably still had a better handle on race relations than a lot of her contemporaries. She also had flings with Marlene Dietrich as well as Oscar Wilde's niece Dolly Wilde, leading the kind of life that would already be a Hollywood movie had she been born a man.
It's a book I'd thoroughly recommend the book to anyone wanting to read about interesting women and LGBT figures. Some undesirable personality traits aside, Joe was a remarkable character.