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Once on Esplanade
Keyes' famous - and only juvenile novel - in which a young girl on the brink of womanhood, grows up in the lush splendor of romantic New Orleans.This is the story of Marie Louise, a delightful young girl whose family played a prominent part in the history of Louisiana and who herself lived on the Esplanade when this was the most fashionable avenue in New Orleans. It is also the story of an enchanting city and a gracious way of life whose savor Mrs. Keyes has skillfully captured and most happily preserved forever.
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1947
42 people want to read
About the author
Frances Parkinson Keyes
141 books93 followersFrances Parkinson Keyes was an American author who wrote about her life as the wife of a U.S. Senator and novels set in New England, Louisiana, and Europe. A convert to Roman Catholicism, her later works frequently featured Catholic themes and beliefs. Her last name rhymes with "skies," not "keys."
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 30, 2020
ONCE ON ESPLANADE by Frances Parkinson Keyes, as the introduction by the author explains, was originally published as a novel for younger readers, although the old-fashioned writing style would not really be ideal for young readers today. (An example: "Marie Louise continued to snuggle down under her eiderdown, while she went through her devotional exercises, but she had no time to linger over these or to indulge her feeling of lassitude." Imagine page after page like that and you'll get the idea.) It turns out that this is NOT a romance novel, despite the cover image of the elegant couple staring into each other's eyes and the book's subtitle: "A Cycle Between Two Creole Weddings." In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Avon Books published many of Keyes' novels from previous decades, with her name appearing like a brand logo on the front covers along with an illustration depicting a couple together in a romantic pose. (My copy was published by Avon in Sept. 1970.)
Keyes was a woman who wrote about women and relationships, but her novels do NOT conform to the modern rules of a romance novel. If one is expecting to read a romance, one will be disappointed. The female lead in this novel, Marie Louise Villere, is introduced to the reader as a child and we watch her grow up in subsequent chapters. The man that she will eventually marry, Fernand Claiborne, is mentioned in Chapter Two (page 40), again in Chapter Three (page 54), and the focus of one paragraph in Chapter Eleven (pgs. 163-164). He doesn't begin courting Marie Louise until the final chapter (Chapter Twelve, page 169). Their wedding day is described on pages 174 and 175. The book ends on page 176, so obviously this story is not much of a romance. Perhaps theirs was a great love story in real life, but if so that is not effectively conveyed by Keyes.
Although ostensibly a novel, the book is based on the real life of an actual woman who lived in New Orleans in the 1880s (although exact dates are not given) whom Keyes met when she was in her old age. There is no plot per se; the narrative consists of a seemingly random series of scenes from Marie Louise's childhood. The book's main interest lies in its numerous historical details. If one likes history, that's great, but for the average reader the frequent digressions describing clothing and daily routines in minute detail, and the continual introduction of more friends and neighbors, may soon prove tiresome. Several times I had to reread a paragraph because I found my mind wandering elsewhere.
Even as an attempt at faithfully recreating the past, however, the book has a blind spot in its lack of self-awareness when it comes to the characters' privilege and perpetuates that privilege in the omission of those persons outside their social status. The best example of this is probably Chapter Seven which concerns our young heroine's friendship with Winnie Davis, the daughter of Jefferson Davis, and her visits to their estate, Beauvoir. The Davis family is portrayed sympathetically, which many readers will find nauseating. African-American characters are not demonized in the book, but are barely present -- a subtle way of indicating their insignificance. On page 76, there is a paragraph mentioning the Villere family's black servants, who are superstitious about pecans from a particular tree. Two of the servants are named elsewhere in the text ("Victorine, the parlormaid, and Mathilde, the chambermaid") who are "both coal black, of medium size, and without marked characteristics beyond their kindness, efficiency and good manners." The reader learns more about what the Villere family had for breakfast each morning than about the black people serving invisibly in their midst. More time is spent on the lighter-skinned characters: Placide, the son of the family's cook Clarisse (who "was a very light multatress"); he "was even lighter than she" and "did not consider himself a servant, and was not referred to as such." Placide gets a whole page devoted to himself, which consists mainly of his laboring as a shoe mender. "Placide was a credit to his class and his kind," Keyes writes on page 123. "His sister Rosa, who was a beauty and could have passed for white anywhere...."
One could dismiss this objection as simply a sign of less enlightened times, but I think that excuse lets Keyes off the hook instead of holding the writer accountable for the choices she made about what was important to include and what wasn't. And for Keyes, including detailed accounts of a trip to the candy store or the workings of a dollhouse were evidently more important than the lives of the black people serving the Villere family every day. Had their stories been included, this would have been a more interesting and worthwhile book. So far this is the only book by Keyes that I've read, and the bias toward the privileged class evident in this novel makes me question whether I ought to bother reading the others that she wrote, if they have the same blind spot about race as this one does. Unfortunately, despite all of the historical details and research that clearly went into writing this book, it's a 2-star rating for me.
Keyes was a woman who wrote about women and relationships, but her novels do NOT conform to the modern rules of a romance novel. If one is expecting to read a romance, one will be disappointed. The female lead in this novel, Marie Louise Villere, is introduced to the reader as a child and we watch her grow up in subsequent chapters. The man that she will eventually marry, Fernand Claiborne, is mentioned in Chapter Two (page 40), again in Chapter Three (page 54), and the focus of one paragraph in Chapter Eleven (pgs. 163-164). He doesn't begin courting Marie Louise until the final chapter (Chapter Twelve, page 169). Their wedding day is described on pages 174 and 175. The book ends on page 176, so obviously this story is not much of a romance. Perhaps theirs was a great love story in real life, but if so that is not effectively conveyed by Keyes.
Although ostensibly a novel, the book is based on the real life of an actual woman who lived in New Orleans in the 1880s (although exact dates are not given) whom Keyes met when she was in her old age. There is no plot per se; the narrative consists of a seemingly random series of scenes from Marie Louise's childhood. The book's main interest lies in its numerous historical details. If one likes history, that's great, but for the average reader the frequent digressions describing clothing and daily routines in minute detail, and the continual introduction of more friends and neighbors, may soon prove tiresome. Several times I had to reread a paragraph because I found my mind wandering elsewhere.
Even as an attempt at faithfully recreating the past, however, the book has a blind spot in its lack of self-awareness when it comes to the characters' privilege and perpetuates that privilege in the omission of those persons outside their social status. The best example of this is probably Chapter Seven which concerns our young heroine's friendship with Winnie Davis, the daughter of Jefferson Davis, and her visits to their estate, Beauvoir. The Davis family is portrayed sympathetically, which many readers will find nauseating. African-American characters are not demonized in the book, but are barely present -- a subtle way of indicating their insignificance. On page 76, there is a paragraph mentioning the Villere family's black servants, who are superstitious about pecans from a particular tree. Two of the servants are named elsewhere in the text ("Victorine, the parlormaid, and Mathilde, the chambermaid") who are "both coal black, of medium size, and without marked characteristics beyond their kindness, efficiency and good manners." The reader learns more about what the Villere family had for breakfast each morning than about the black people serving invisibly in their midst. More time is spent on the lighter-skinned characters: Placide, the son of the family's cook Clarisse (who "was a very light multatress"); he "was even lighter than she" and "did not consider himself a servant, and was not referred to as such." Placide gets a whole page devoted to himself, which consists mainly of his laboring as a shoe mender. "Placide was a credit to his class and his kind," Keyes writes on page 123. "His sister Rosa, who was a beauty and could have passed for white anywhere...."
One could dismiss this objection as simply a sign of less enlightened times, but I think that excuse lets Keyes off the hook instead of holding the writer accountable for the choices she made about what was important to include and what wasn't. And for Keyes, including detailed accounts of a trip to the candy store or the workings of a dollhouse were evidently more important than the lives of the black people serving the Villere family every day. Had their stories been included, this would have been a more interesting and worthwhile book. So far this is the only book by Keyes that I've read, and the bias toward the privileged class evident in this novel makes me question whether I ought to bother reading the others that she wrote, if they have the same blind spot about race as this one does. Unfortunately, despite all of the historical details and research that clearly went into writing this book, it's a 2-star rating for me.
January 12, 2022
Light reading compared to Keyes's typical novels for adults--this coming-of-age seemed skimpy. Interesting highlights from a young lady's life I would have liked to read more about. Felt like a condensed version, cleaned for content and length. (And the dark, juicy tidbits are some of my favorite things about Keyes's novels.) Glad to have read it though.
December 24, 2020
This one did not stand the test of time the only thing that stood out is that it took place in new Orleans
March 24, 2013
This book was actually written for children rather than adults. It is exactly the kind of book I would have loved to read in upper elementary school. It gives a very accurate description of post Civil War life in New Orleans for the wealthy, as it is based on reminiscences of a lady who grew up during that time. I actually prefer it to some of Keyes' adult books since she can sometimes get overly wordy and she needed to avoid that in a children's book. Her love for New Orleans and its traditions shines through.
February 5, 2011
When I read the book, I wonder what took me so long to read it. For one, this is set in one of my favorite time periods, in my home town, and with my grandmother's family, though the Villeres featured may have been fictional ancestors. It is a lighthearted tale of descendants of a once-prominent dynasty in New Orleans, and the exodus of the original French residents from the French Quarter to Esplanade Avenue after the Louisiana Purchase.
July 27, 2009
This description of an aristocratic Creole girlhood is an fascinating contrast to the author's big epic novels set in DC, New England, and New Orleans.
September 5, 2013
Enjoyed this as it was less wordy than most of her other books. Interesting period
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews