Clio Rising

by Paula Martinac

In 1983, Livvie Bliss leaves western North Carolina for New York City, armed with a degree in English and a small cushion of cash from a favorite aunt. Her goal is to launch a career in publishing, but also to live openly as a lesbian. A rough start makes Livvie think she should give up and head home, but then a new friend helps her land a job at a literary agency run by the formidable Bea Winston.

Bea hopes Livvie’s Southern charm and boyish good looks will help her bond with one of the agency’s most illustrious clients―the cranky Modernist writer Clio Hartt, an octogenarian recluse who accomplished just one great novel. When Livvie becomes Clio’s girl Friday and companion, the plan looks like it’s The two connect around their shared western North Carolina heritage, and their rapport gives Clio support and inspiration to think about publishing again.

But something isn’t quite right with Clio’s writing. And as Livvie learns more about Clio’s romantic relationship with playwright Flora Haynes, uncomfortable parallels emerge between Livvie’s own circle of friends and the drama-filled world of expatriate artists in Paris in the 1920s. In Clio’s final days, the writer shares a secret that could upend Livvie’s life―and the literary establishment.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, LGBT, Lesbian

310 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2019

About the author

I'm the author of seven novels, including the most recent Dear Miss Cushman (12/7/21); Testimony (2021); Clio Rising (2019), Gold Medal Finalist, Northeast Region, Independent Publisher Book Awards; The Ada Decades (2017), a finalist for the 2018 Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction; and the Lambda Literary Award-winning Out of Time, which was a finalist for the American Library Association Gay and Lesbian Book Award. I've also published three nonfiction books on LGBT themes; authored plays that were produced in Pittsburgh, New York, and D.C.; and written an award-winning full-length screenplay. I'm a lecturer in the undergraduate creative writing program at UNC Charlotte and a writing instructor with Charlotte Center for the Literary Arts. In 2019, I was lucky to receive fellowships from the Arts and Science Council (Charlotte/Mecklenburg County) and the North Carolina Arts Council, which helped me write my upcoming novel, Dear Miss Cushman (2021).

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, Clio Rising more character driven than plot driven, and that works well because we watch Livvie come into her own in New York City and get caught up in everything that is Clio. While I wouldn’t call it fast paced, Livvie’s thoughts and reactions make for some damn compelling reading, and Martinac delivers an experience that no other author could pull off in quite the same way.

Full review: https://www.thelesbianreview.com/clio...

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, excellent. It is a thing of beauty to get properly engaged in a story the way I did with this book. Random library find (they are huge on diversity these days) that reminded me of Beebo Brinker in all the best ways, it is so much like in, but set in a publishing world and a few decades later. New York is still very much the place to be for all the gays from their small constricting towns. And so the tall and boyish and very much closeted back in North Carolina, deliciously named Olive (Livvie) Bliss comes to New York, where she can finally be herself. And as herself she makes friends and love connections. She even, very practically, makes job connections and through being a lowly assistant in publishing, she gets an opportunity to meet and spent time with the legendary Modernist lesbian icon of a writer, the eponymous Clio.
Fast approaching 90, Clio is a grumpy shut in, living in her small studio apartment with too many book and memories, especially of her one and only love, the torrid affair well known and documented, since both of the women at one time mixed in the most prestigious literati circles. But Clio is also a southern gal underneath all the acclaim and sophistication and Livvie’s fresh off the bus caroliniasm appeals to her immensely so she agrees to have her come and assist her in various ways. The relationship they strike up is somewhere between working and friendship and, although brief, it ends up having a profound meaning for both.
So what did I like about it? Well, all of it, really. It’s a terrific character driven story with properly engaging characters and interesting dynamics. It does an excellent job of bringing both the NYC (a great place that works oh so nicely…on paper) of the 1980s and the gay Paris of the 1920s to life, the latter utilizing so many famous people and seamlessly weaving them into the narrative. In fact. Clio’s character was inspired by Djuna Barnes, an author I personally didn’t care for, but who had a similar life trajectory, romantically, creatively and geographically, and lived in NYC at the same time as the author once upon a…
Clio’s something of a tragic figure, her legacy is just one great novel and one great love, but that’s still pretty epic when done right and so it’s easy to forgive her mood swings and gruffness. And Livvie’s just a nice kid through and though. Most of her friends are too. You’ll really enjoy spending time with them all. So much so, I didn’t even mind all the country friend Southerness of it all. After all, sometimes you just need a great biscuit.
Really, really enjoyed this one. Great read. So glad to have found it. Recommended.

This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/

[Darlene Vendegna · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read this year! Darn I'm sorry it's over. I suppose it would be considered historical fiction, but I have a hard time calling something set in a decade in which I was a full grown women history, the 80's. Sigh. At any rate, a wonderful story about a young lesbian from a small town in North Carolina, who moves to NYC in hopes of getting a job in publishing. The author perfectly captures, in my opinion, the life of young lesbians in a big city in the 80s; that almost incestuous nature of friends becoming lovers, and who's sleeping with whom. Livvie Bliss, the main character, gets a job working for a literary agent. This agent assigns Livvie to be an assistant to an aging lesbian author and recluse, Clio Hartt who is also from North Carolina. The two women bond over their similar backgrounds. Young Livvie helps Clio remember parts of her past she had long shut away and in doing so serves as her muse. This novel is not only an engaging story about lesbian life in the 80s, but also a fascinating look at aging. How our histories help form us and our memories can both sustain us and at the same time somehow limit us. This is a book, like others by this author, that I will hold close and save for rereading again and again.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book from start to finish! I honestly thought Clio Hartt was real and enjoyed her quirks and personality as a character. I also liked learning more about lesbian relationships and seeing Livvie navigate her move to NYC.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I needed an ebook to read on the go and much to my surprise it became the book I wanted to read more than the other books I was reading!

The story is very focused on various relationships (platonic, professional, romantic) and bizarrely I wouldn’t say I particularly cared for any of the characters. But I was interested in what they were going to do, so that says something! This book reminded me how much I can enjoy Lesbian-centered historical fiction. I won’t wait so long to read Paula Martinac again!

[Vita L. Licari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE THIS BOOK!I was about the age of Livvie during the 80s, but not in NYC (except for about 6 months when my job brought me there). I too was struggling regarding my sexuality, though my family did know. But I digress, this book is a solid peek into being a young lesbian in NYC and meeting a literary icon, Clio.
Clio whose love of her life was a woman Flora. But always dismisses being a lesbian. The relationship between 88 yr old Clio and a young 23 yr old budding literary "editor".
What a journey! Worth more than 5 stars! A favorite!

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Are you trying to make up for invading my privacy?’

North Carolina author Paula Martinac has published five novels as well as an anthology of short stories and three nonfiction books on lesbian and gay culture and politics and has been honored with the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction and other significant recognitions. In addition to her books, articles and short stories, Paula is a playwright whose plays have enjoyed wide performances. She teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte and is a writing coach for Charlotte Center for the Literary Arts.

Paula takes a formidable historic figure – the enigmatic Clio Hartt, an early advocate of and author of lesbian fiction while living a life that spanned from the raucous twenties to the mid 1980s – and places that figure in New York where she is encountered by heroine Livvie Bliss, a fresh young writer whose assignment to work with Clio results in a fascinating mystery unfolding. The majesty of Paula’s writing transforms this excellent novel into not only a visit to realms of lesbian history, but also a magnetic exploration of an at times strange relationship between two women from disparate eras.

Composed with satisfying dollops of comic relief, sensitive tragic passages, mystery, secrets, and well-sculpted associate characters, CLIO RISING can be enjoyed and absorbed on many levels – not the least of which is a rather profound impression of the gifts of Paula Martinac. Highly Recommended.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm eternally grateful to Paula Martinac for her absorbing stories and lively characters. Moving easily from big city to small town and between decades, Clio Rising carried me along effortlessly. I'm not usually a fiction reader, but I'm always pleasantly surprised to see how quickly I fall into Martinac's well-crafted, plain-spoken, intriguing novels. Looking forward to more!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous!

I don’t remember how I came upon this treasure online, but I loved it from start to finish! Don’t miss this treat!

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable. Good characters and story line. Need more like it.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok but not engrossing or captivating. Angst. No hum.