KATHERINE'S WISH BY LINDA LAPPIN Wordcraft of Oregon, 2008 REVIEWED BY R.A. RYCRAFT

Full of early 20th century unrest and color, Katherine's Wish transports us to war-era Europe, where the ailing Katherine Mansfield frequently travels to escape Britain's harsh winters. Ruthlessly compelled by her creative urges, Mansfield rejects conventional treatment for her tuberculosis, appreciating that a sanatorium denies her solitude and imposes a rest cure, both of which would prevent her from writing. She is an artist, stalked by poverty and disease, with a Keatsian drive to "[glean her] teeming brain" before time runs out, writing more than twenty-three short stories, including the frequently anthologized "Miss Brill," between 1918 and her death in 1924. For Mansfield, "Work was the only consolation for the new state of things. Writing was a second breath, a second chance."  

It took over twenty years for novelist Linda Lappin to complete her fictional biography on Katherine Mansfield, and the payoff for us is a captivating tale of Katherine's Wish to live, chronicling the period when she became intensely aware of her mortality and rebelled against the disease that eventually consumed her, the period that came to define her as a fighter with savage courage—the last five years of her life. A master story-teller, Lappin weaves a tale that is triumphant, genuine and tender in its unfolding. With vivid details and imagery born of careful research, she brings Mansfield to life, her voice so clear and authentic we are convinced that she is more than Lappin's character.  She is Mansfield: sexually reckless, socially excitable, temperamentally damaged, spiteful and cruel, appealing and vulnerable. She is Mansfield—a tragic and unconventional heroine.  

Lappin tells Mansfield's story through an old Shakespearean technique—various points of view. Katherine's Wish is a 3rd person account fashioned from Mansfield's life, letters, and journal entries as well as those of her philandering and egocentric husband,  John Middleton Murry, and her irritating but loyal companion, Ida Constance Baker. The interplay of these three differing perspectives lends credibility to Lappin's depiction of her characters, particularly Mansfield, reducing what in so many other fictional biographies feels like forced or affected character development. We see Mansfield for what she was—a flawed and self-absorbed human being as are most artists. Ego feeds art. Self-absorption is just one of the means used to access that elusive place where art lives within the meditating psyche. And because we recognize the value and genius of this particular artist cut down at only 34, we forgive Mansfield her selfish egotism. In fact, we care about her and wonder what more she might have contributed to literature had she not died so young.

Lappin's skillful blend of fact and fiction leaves us entertaining the possibility that Katherine's Wish is more biography than novel. It is an honest, uncompromising, and insightful view into Mansfield, the culture that molded her, and the people who surrounded her. It is also a fast-paced and fully rewarding read.