Sara and Gerald: Villa America and After

by Honoria Murphy Donnelly, Richard N. Billings

A very personal memoir by the daughter of the fabulous couple who made living well the best revenge, author Honoria Murphy's childhood was the stuff of grown-up fantasy. 'Earnest Hemingway taught her to ski and to clean fish and not to wear high heels while bowling. Dorothy Parker showed her how to tipple tequila and lime. Picasso provided art criticism....Cole Porter added the music and F. Scott Fitzgerald the magic. She was the only daughter of Sara and Gerald Murphy, the golden American who, between the wars, created the emigre artists' paradise in the south of France. Their sunny charm, elegant good looks, and trend-setting brilliance, which made them Beautiful People before the term was coined, was chronicled in the bestselling 'Living Well is the Best Revenge.'

But there was another aspect to the Murphy's story, shadowing their gilded days with spirit-crushing loss. In this remarkable reminiscence, Honoria Murphy Donnelly includes her parents' sad as well as happy times, the intimate dramas as well as celebrity-studded anecdotes, in a deeply touching portrait of a family both very special and very human. From the lush lawns of East Hampton, New York, to the sun-struck Riviera beaches to the echoing corridors of exclusive Swiss sanitoriums, the legend of Sara and Gerald is funny, harrowing, memorable...but it is finally a story of love and courage, the triumph of a couple who won the hearts of a generation and, now, through their daughter, wins ours.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite quote from the book is from a 1936 letter Gerald Murphy wrote from London to his son Patrick: "The menace of European war is in all their minds, but they act as if nothing were happening. I expressed my fears to one in the bank this morning. 'O I 'ope not, Sir, it would mess things up a bit, wouldn't it, Sir.' A great race [the British]."

I immersed myself in the book - co-written by the only child of the Murphys who survived into adulthood, their daughter Honoria, with supplementary text by Richard Billings - and it effectively made me feel as if I were an eyewitness to those magical days of discovery on the Riviera in the 1920s. I've read extensively on the subjects and the era, including the Yale archives, but this book contains photos I hadn't seen anywhere else, plus a devastating section that reproduces their son Patrick's diary entries during the last months of his life.

Anyone interested in this era will find similar gems throughout the book, along with some anecdotes about F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Archibald MacLeish, Picasso, and others. Some of the passages no doubt will be familiar to students of the era but they're told from a more personal point of view. This is one of those books I'll probably want to return to more than once. It had an evocative way of making me know what it might have been like to be living back then, and it made me appreciate just being alive.

[Kevin Ellerbrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this biography on the Murphy's! I've read multiple books and thought that I knew alot about this couple; but the details in this novel really elevated my awareness. A wonderful tribute to this magical couple.

[Ronald Koltnow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book I read about the Murphys, that family of dazzling sophisticates who were the nexus of the lost generation in Paris and society in NYC. Reminiscences by Sara and Gerald Murphy's daughter Honoria punctuate the biographical study by Richard N. Billings. The Murphys led a charmed life: travel, friendships with the famous, and a genuine lust for life. They also were cursed: the death of their two sons, Sara's legal battles with her sister, money problems. Gerald gave up his bohemian life to take over the family business. He quit painting, at which he showed genuine promise, when his son Patrick died. Among the dramatis persona that waltz through the book are F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and assorted wives, Fernand Leger, Archibald MacLeish, Dorothy Parker, and countless others. The Murphys seemed to have known everyone. We shall not see their like again.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've ever read anything about Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and many other writers and artists of the early 20th century, you've run across Sara and Gerald Murphy. In their home in France and elsewhere, they lavishly entertained and hosted many famous names. I've always been curious to know a bit more about this couple, and this book does the job admirably. Sections alternate between the memories of their daughter, Honoria, and a biographical approach by Richard Billings. The Murphys both came from money and lived a 'Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' a good deal of the time, but they were not untouched by tragedy. A worthwhile book for anyone interested in the creative minds of that era.

[Maria Almaguer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful and devastating, this is truly a charming and loving tribute by a daughter to her legendary and lovely parents.

[Susan Arra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done.

[Austen to Zafón · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the beginning of my love of the 1920s and 30s expatriate life and of the idea of hospitality. In fact, because of this book, my college art portfolio was based on the theme of hospitality. Gerald was a talented artist in his own right and it's a pity he's not more famous. Sara was a flame that drew writers and artists of that period like moths. Written by their daughter, it reads like an homage. I'm interesed in other biographies of Sara and Gerald and it looks like there are some now.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a lovely book, a daughter's love note to her parents. I'm glad that I read it after reading other biographies of the Murphys. There was little that was new in this book except that the stories seemed more vivid because they were recollections of someone who had been present versus a historian who digs into the archives to tell the story. It was heartfelt and heartwarming. I'm sad to be leaving the world Honoria Murphy recreated.

[J Eseltine · Rating 3 out of 5]

inspired to read this after reading the novel Villa America - this book was one of the author's resources

[Melissa Baxter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone fascinated by the Murphys and their Lost Generation friends.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got interested in this after reading Villa America. Then became obsessed with learning all about the Murphys. If you like the carefree lifestyle of the 20s and 30s, you'll love this.