THE FOUR MS. BRADWELLS: A Novel by Meg Waite Clayton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Oh my did I love this book.
The “Ms. Bradwells,” so named after Mrs. Myra Bradwell, an Illinois woman denied the right to practice law by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1873, are four women who begin a lifelong friendship their first year at Michigan Law School. Virginia Cook Conrad (Ginger) is the daughter of a prominent Southern family whose name adorns buildings at the law school and whose mother, an acclaimed feminist lawyer, appeared to be devoted to causes at the expense of her daughter. With her promiscuous behavior and flippant attitude, Ginger is “the rebel.” Elsbieta Zhukovski (Betts) was raised by her immigrant mother, a medical doctor in Poland who scrubbed toilets in America to give her daughter every opportunity; considered “the funny one” of the group, Betts fulfills her mother’s dreams when she is nominated for the United States Supreme Court. African-American Helen Weils-Robeson (Laney), "the good girl," suffers the tacit race and gender bias of the posh legal firms; Laney ultimately returns home to Georgia for a career in public service and at the time of Betts' nomination, is running for state senator. Mary Ellen Porter (Mia), “the savant.” grew up watching her mother leave her father every summer, traveling to rendezvous’ with women that Mia later realizes were lovers. A journalist, Mia lives an itinerant life, avoiding romantic entanglements.
Thirty years after they first meet, the four women are together again as Betts is undergoing confirmation hearings for the Supreme Court. When a political blog raises questions about a death that occurred at a Maryland summer home where the four women were spending their law school spring break, long kept secrets threaten to derail lives, and the women flee from Washington to that same home. Over the course of a weekend, the details of that fated night and the effect it had on each of their lives trickle out as each of the women is forced to confront the choices they made so long ago. Told in chapters rotating among the voice of each of the four women, the setting smoothly switches from the present to the past and back again.
I cannot remember the last time I read a novel that had such richly drawn characters. I loved each of these women, something I find fascinating because in most “friendship” centered novels one or more of the characters will be stronger at the expense of others and that is simply not true here. Each of the women is so human, true to herself, and equally important, true to the times. These are not the women law school graduates of today when more than half of the graduating class is female: these women speak and act like the women of their generation, some of whom were still breaking glass ceilings and facing rampant, silent and not so silent discrimination.
But these women are more than just their law degrees. They are caring mothers who fiercely love their children, who long for love and acceptance, and who fight against the ever-present doubts and insecurities that are only some of the repercussions of the crime that profoundly affected all of their lives. Ms. Clayton also hits the mark in her realistic depictions of the envy, closely nurtured old hurts and shifting alliances that are an integral part of most close-knit friendships.
If I had to pick a favorite among the women, I would choose Ginger. Underneath her flamboyant exterior, she was, for me, the most vulnerable as a young woman. Equally poignant is the portrait of her watching her three professionally successful friends rise to acclaim when she, standing in the shadow of her mother’s achievements, has no professional accomplishments of her own to claim.
Because it becomes evident fairly early on in the book, I do not think that I am revealing too much by saying that the death in question is connected to a rape perpetrated on one of the women and that the next day the rapist is found dead in what is ruled a suicide. The reader is left guessing as to who may have been responsible for the death years ago, as well as who has caused the story at last to come to light. The “mystery” aspect is deftly executed, in that a level of tension is quietly maintained throughout the narrative. Yet the heart of this wonderful story is the questions it raises about the perception of rape victims and the more general notions of attitudes about women’s sexuality, both thirty years ago, and now.
Immediately after the rape, the women disagree on whether to report the crime; they ultimately choose not to for a variety of reasons that thirty years later they hope would no longer exist. This book causes the reader to consider whether society has evolved sufficiently to the point that the victims of sexual offenses no longer have to fear being made the object of blame themselves; whether there is still a double standard when it comes to the sexual activities of young men and young women; and whether there is a reduced empathy for victims who are not strangers to their attacker.
After I received this book, I became aware that one of Ms. Clayton’s novels, The Wednesday Sisters was a huge hit amongst book clubs and bloggers alike. At first I was upset that I had somehow missed a book that had generated so much talk. However, now that I have finished this, I can honestly say that ignorance is bliss, because unlike those who have already read The Wednesday Sisters, I do not have to wait to enjoy another one Ms. Clayton’s books.
I received an advance reader’s edition of The Four Ms. Bradwells from the publisher, Ballantine Books, a Random House, imprint. The Four Ms. Bradwells will be released in March of 2011.
