Magnificent Spinster Book

Sarton's 17th novel explores the realities and reverberations of a 50-year friendship between two remarkable women that ended with the death of Jane Reid. It is relived because Cam, in her seventies, decides to celebrate "the magnificent spinster" in a novel.

Library Journal

This fiction of friendship and devotion shows Sarton's narrative skills still strong and healthy in her seventh decade. The title character is Jane Reid, a remarkable American aristocrat. Born to moneyed privilege, the daughter and granddaughter of distinguished New Englanders, and talented and attractive in her own right, she devotes her long life to service and giving. As teacher, philanthropist, and friend, she influences and touches many. She chooses to remain single, but her zest for people assures that she is never alone. We see her through the admiring eyes of former pupil Cam, who calls up scenes from an exemplary life to create a portrait of a memorable presence. Cam's recollections are short on linear narrative but rich in language and imagery. Readers of this gentle novel should find much to savor. Starr E. Smith, Georgetown Univ. Lib., Washington, D.C.