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Frances Parkinson Keyes (1885–1970)

Author of Dinner at Antoine's

78+ Works 3,205 Members 22 Reviews 5 Favorited

About the Author

Image credit: Frances Parkinson Keyes

Series

Works by Frances Parkinson Keyes

Dinner at Antoine's (1948) 312 copies
Steamboat Gothic (1791) 205 copies
Joy Street (1777) 184 copies
Blue Camellia (1957) 147 copies
Came a Cavalier (1947) 140 copies
The Chess Players (1746) 136 copies
The River Road (1945) 133 copies
The Royal Box (1954) 127 copies
Station Wagon in Spain (1959) 126 copies
The Heritage (1777) 105 copies
Victorine (1656) 102 copies
I, the King (1966) 96 copies
Madame Castel's Lodger (1962) 84 copies
The Explorer (1964) 79 copies
Crescent Carnival (1942) 65 copies
Also the Hills (1943) 56 copies
Fielding's Folly (1940) 41 copies
All That Glitters (1941) 40 copies
Queen Anne's Lace (1930) 34 copies
Honor Bright (1936) 33 copies
Senator Marlowe's Daughter (1933) 31 copies
Three ways of love (1963) 29 copies
Bernadette of Lourdes (1953) 29 copies
Tongues of fire (1966) 28 copies
The Great Tradition (1900) 25 copies
Roses in December (1960) 25 copies
The Safe Bridge (1934) 23 copies
Parts Unknown (1938) 21 copies
The Grace of Guadalupe (1941) 20 copies
Restless Lady (1962) 19 copies
The Career of David Noble (1961) 19 copies
The Old Gray Homestead (1973) 19 copies
Larry Vincent (1953) 18 copies
Lady Blanche Farm (1964) 17 copies
The Ambassadress (1946) 15 copies
If Ever I Cease to Love (1943) 14 copies
Once on Esplanade (1947) 13 copies
All this is Louisiana (1950) 13 copies
Along a Little Way (1962) 9 copies
Guadalupe to Lourdes (1953) 7 copies
Christmas gift 5 copies
Vail D'Alvery (1947) 5 copies
Sylvia Cary (1962) 2 copies
The King 1 copy
Kongelosjen 1 copy
Three novels 1 copy

Associated Works

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1885-07-21
Date of death
1970-07-03
Burial location
The Oxbow, Newbury, Vermont, USA
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Place of death
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Places of residence
Washington, D.C., USA
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Newbury, Vermont, USA
Education
privately educated
Occupations
novelist
magazine editor
Short biography
Frances Parkinson Wheeler split her time in childhood between Boston, Massachusetts, and the village of Newbury, Vermont. She was educated privately and traveled widely throughout Europe. In 1904, at the age of 18, she married Henry Wilder Keyes, a politician who eventually became governor and then U.S. Senator from New Hampshire, and the couple lived on his family estate near Haverhill with their three sons.

After her husband's death in 1938, Frances Parkinson Keyes settled in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

Her career as a writer began with the publication of her first novel, Old Gray Homestead, in 1919. During the 1920s, she wrote a series called "Letters from a Senator's Wife," for Good Housekeeping Magazine, where she served as a contributing editor; the columns were later collected and published in book form. Keyes also wrote about her experiences as a political wife in two memoirs, Capital Kaleidoscope: The Story of a Washington Hostess (1937) and All Flags Flying (published posthumously in 1972), as well as a novel, All That Glitters (1941).

Frances converted to Catholicism and this experience fueled much of her writing on religious subjects, both fiction and nonfiction.

Members

Reviews

Paul Morphy was the first American Chess player to go to Europe and challenge the first class players. After defeating General Winfield Scott when he was only nine years old, Morphy was the player to beat if you sought distnction in the game on the American Scene. No one established a reputation for doing so. Morphy became a lawyer in New Orleans prior to the Civil War. He toured europe playing and winning matches against the strongest players available in England, Germany and France. Keyes, noting that Morphy never married, and died young, gives him an unhappy love affair,.… (more)
½
 
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DinadansFriend | 2 other reviews | Nov 20, 2023 |
two S. Am sts, Rose & Mariana
 
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SrMaryLea | Aug 22, 2023 |
I can forgive the hokey writing and dialogue because it reflects a different era than today. However, I feel it fair to critique the plot and characters.
The protagonist is a bit of a wet rag in the beginning, just teaching at a local college and living with a cousin, sort of stringing along a local girl with noncommittal interactions. Then he gets money (more on that in a moment) and a Sabbatical, plus a bit of a mystery to pursue and suddenly he's a go-getting, take charge, fall in love at the drop of a hat kind of guy. I didn't see it. In some moments he's seemingly thick (like getting money together and driving to the middle of nowhere to meet men he already suspects are cons) and then others he has amazing clarity of mind (deducing where intriguing books are from and how they came to be where they are). The romance is also sudden and ridiculous, like a 30 year old man suddenly falling for the young Spanish girl after a couple of small talk conversations.
His inheritance: a bachelor uncle leaves him a mansion and funds, but the way the protagonist throws around money to help his new in-laws in Spain recover their property and then some...was his uncle Bill Gates or Kanye West? because that's the kind of money he's spending, even considering inflation. No way he inherited so much money he went from unable to afford his own apartment to almost literally throwing money at people for any and every cause.

The character didn't develop logically, the mystery didn't unfold consistently (lots of slow moments then tumbling ahead quickly), nor was it particularly inventive or intriguing. Too bad. Seemed like it could have been a hidden gem.
… (more)
 
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LDVoorberg | 1 other review | Nov 22, 2020 |
The Old Gray Homestead doesn't have the extensive notes on F.P. Keyes's creative process and on-site research that I have come to expect from her books. It's her first book (1919) -- very well written, set in Vermont, drawing upon her life experience of 30-some years, 15 in rural New England. It reminds me of something by Gene Stratton Porter -- a poor farm boy / rich girl romance similar to Laddie, A True Blue Story but thankfully lacking the self-conscious whimsy of the latter; Austin calls his lady by her name, Laddie refers to "the Princess" until ... well. Far too often. Perhaps it's more like something by L. M. Montgomery. Keyes's characters would be at home and welcomed in Avonlea. My personal favourite minor character is a gossipy old lady by the name of Mrs Elliott, who sometimes had me laughing out loud. Here she is on the phone: '"Yes, this is Mrs Elliot -- Maybe if some of the folks on the line that's taken their receivers down so's they can know who I'm talkin' to an' what I'm sayin' will hang up, you can hear me a little more plain." (This timely remark resulted in several little clicks.)'… (more)
 
Flagged
muumi | Aug 13, 2019 |

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Statistics

Works
78
Also by
4
Members
3,205
Popularity
#7,984
Rating
½ 3.4
Reviews
22
ISBNs
127
Favorited
5

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