Isabel Wolff

I really enjoyed A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff, a romance story set against the vivid backdrop of a vintage clothing shop. The descriptions of the vintage clothing was almost sensuous as she fills in the details of fabrics’ texture, colors and design features. This is a heart-warming and witty story that was pure escapism, the author tells a touching, feel-good story without the story bogging down in too much sentimentality or sweetness.

Although I started the review by calling this a show more romance story, really there is less emphasis on the romance and more on the actual story. There were a lot of things about this book that I liked. The main character was a mature woman of thirty-six, she was living an interesting life and finding a man wasn’t her number one priority. Instead the book explored themes of friendship, grief and loss as well as learning how to forgive yourself for actions that were at the most thoughtless or uninformed rather than deliberate or vindictive.

This was the first book I have read by Isabel Wolff, but I am certainly going to be adding her to my list of authors that I would like to read more of. show less

If, as Mark Twain said, clothes make the man, Isabel Wolff's A Vintage Affair demonstrates that each of us also imprint our clothing with our stories, our feelings, our lives. Sometimes those clothes retain the regret for choices we have made that have altered lives, and sometimes those clothes encourage us to take the leap, to have the self-confidence to break off that dysfunctional relationship, to tell the truth, to pursue an opportunity, to fall in love.

Phoebe Swift has built her life show more and a successful career around the fashion and styles of days of yore, but when several life-altering events occur within two years, she decides to take a risk and pursue her dream – a vintage clothing store that sells the memories embedded in these clothes so they will have new life and new stories. Phoebe loves helping her customers find the perfect vintage outfit for the affairs in their own lives, yet her own life is stagnant, the clothes not speaking to her own regrets and challenges. This changes when the elderly Mrs. Bell offers to sell Phoebe her clothing and shares the pain, regrets, love, and life embedded in them. As Phoebe's customers imprint their clothing purchases with their own stories and share those stories with Phoebe, she begins to open herself up to new life choices and to overcome the pain of the past.

The vintage clothing from Phoebe's store develop a life of their own in Wolff's novel, becoming almost integral characters themselves. As Phoebe and her customers imagine where the cupcake dresses or white satin handbag has been, these imagined lives and stories help each one to accept the choices and triumphs of her own world, and the reader longs to step into the feminine sleek cocktail dress and suave pumps to become Audrey Hepburn or feel the swishy crinolines as Cary Grant, Clark Gable, or Fred Astaire spins her on the dance floor. As the dresses of Isabel Wolff's A Vintage Affair take over the reader's imagination, anything is possible. show less

I'm amazed by how much I enjoyed this book. The blurbs on the back of the cover describe it as being for romance or fashion lovers, and I would not consider myself to be either one of those. However, there was something about this book that made me want to read it. I was immediately drawn in.

The words are so beautifully written. I was particularly enamored by the descriptions of the small villages in France, as well as the vintage clothing shop and its contents. The descriptions of the show more clothing, in particular, were wonderful; I actually found myself imagining going into a vintage clothing shop and finding a beautiful dress that fit me perfectly, enchanting me. (A bit silly, I know.)

And yet the main story isn't really about the clothes, but the many people that the main character, Phoebe, meets and befriends through her shop. Most touching to me, was the underlying message of how we can spend so much time regretting what we have done or have not done, and how we may touch the lives of people. We can't change the past, but it is possible to make peace with it. show less

Jenni is a ghostwriter haunted by a tragedy in her past. She and Rick, her partner, are experiencing a relationship crisis over disagreement about whether or not to have children. They attend a wedding, where Jenni finds out about an opportunity to ghost-write a memoir for the mother of one of the wedding guests. She decides to take the commission, which brings her to the location of her past tragedy.

Her subject, Klara, was interned by the Japanese in Java, Indonesia (then called Dutch East show more Indies), during WWII. Klara and her family experience tremendous suffering. Through interviews, Jenni serves as a sympathetic listener, as Klara gradually discloses memories she has never discussed with her family. In talking through their mutual tragedies, they find a measure of solace.

Klara’s story serves as the primary focus of the narrative, and it is set in Java. Jenni’s backstory is discussed during breaks in the interviews. The book is obviously well-researched. The fictional Klara is based on historic truth and the sources are included in a bibliography at the end.

It is multi-layered and well-crafted. The author has done a great job with the intertwined stories. We gradually learn more about the people and what happened to them. I found myself engrossed in the story and looked forward to picking it up.

I often tell people that there are so many lesser-known stories of WWII, and this is an example. We get a grounding in what was going on in Indonesia at the time – the Dutch colonial residents, the landscapes, the local people, the racial prejudices, the Japanese occupation, the transports, the aftermath leading to Indonesian independence, and all of it told through an emotional story of one family. Add to that the sympathetic character of the ghostwriter, and it is just a wonderful reading experience.

It reminds me a bit of The Garden of Evening Mists, which is set in Malaysia during the Japanese occupation and is another book I highly recommend. show less