The Rosecrest cell

by Vera Caspary

372 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1968

About the author

Vera Caspary, an acclaimed American writer of novels, plays, short stories and screenplays, was born in Chicago in 1899. Her writing talent shone from a young age and, following the death of her father, her work became the primary source of income for Caspary and her mother. A young woman when the Great Depression hit America, Caspary soon developed a keen interest in Socialist causes, and joined the Communist Party under a pseudonym. Although she soon left the party after becoming disillusioned, Caspary's leftist leanings would later come back to haunt her when she was greylisted from Hollywood in the 1950s for Communist sympathies. Caspary spent this period of self-described 'purgatory' alternately in Europe and America with her husband, Igee Goldsmith, in order to find work. After Igee's death in 1964, Caspary returned permanently to New York, where she wrote a further eight titles. Vera Caspary died in 1987 and is survived by a literary legacy of strong independent female characters.

Reviews

[Ramona · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I pick up thinking I will enjoy because of the book jacket, the historical aspect, and a few other items on my list. Sadly, this book is not my cup of tea. It was filled with a lot of dry historical features that I had no interest in. The time period is one of intrigue, hatred, espionage, and traitors, who lived in America, among people who knew very little about what was really happening during the pre-WWII period and Communism. It is very well-written, no doubt of that, but I found it difficult to plow through.