Singing Shadows

by Jane D. Abbott

"Suppose you had bracketed yourself as a dry-as-dust research expert and suddenly found yourself at a publisher's gay tea, meeting, for the first time, a handsome and fascinating young author for whom you had done some research. That is what happened to Judith Peyton. Singing Shadows is the story of Judith's awakening and escape from inhibitions reared in her by an uncompromising grandmother who, after her father, always irresponsible but charming, has deserted her and her mother, had taken them in. Judith is engaged to John Storey, a school and college mate, who is scholarly, quiet and utterly unimaginative. Michael Brandt brings Judith with a capital R. But her father suddenly speaks, as if from the dead, by sending to Judith, from California, an unknown young half-sister named Celise. Judith struggles valiantly with herself in the effort to readjust the exciting present with the drab past. Biddle, her old nurse and companion, plays a part in helping Judith understand yesterday and today. Lovely Judith will capture your heart. The author, Jane Abbott, unfolds a vibrant, modern love story in Singing Shadows."

315 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Jane Ludlow Drake Abbott (1879-1962) was an American author who began her career writing for adolescent girls, and went on to write adult romance. Born in Buffalo, New York, to a family involved in the shipbuilding industry of the Great Lakes region, she was educated at Cornell University, and married Buffalo attorney Frank A. Abbott. Most of her twenty juvenile titles were published under the name Jane D. Abbott, although a few were released under the name Jane Abbott. Her adult titles were all released under the name Jane Abbott.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Judith Peyton lived a quiet life, working as a researcher for writers and speech-makers in Manhattan, and commuting back to her family home, inherited from her deceased grandmother and mother, in Great Neck, Long Island. Engaged for some time to her sedate high school sweetheart John Storey, a teacher and novelist caring for his invalid mother, her life had an even pattern. Into this seeming peace came brash Michael Brant, a crime writer for whom she had previously done some research, and who imperiously decided that they would get to know one another better. To complicate matters further, Judith's long absent father, who had left the family when she was five, wrote to plead with her to take in her half-sister Celise. Facing upheaval in both her family and romantic life, Judith struggled to determine just who she was: a strict no-nonsense woman like her maternal forebears, or someone more open to change and to joy, like her scapegrace father...

Published in 1938, Singing Shadows is the fourteenth book I have read from Jane (D.) Abbott, an early to mid-twentieth-century author who, in the early part of her career, wrote fiction for girls, and then later moved on to romance for adult women. Of the fourteen, this is the sixth adult title I have read, and although there were aspects of it that I enjoyed, overall I did not think it a success. I find that this author has a tendency, at least with her adult romantic fiction, to add additional plot elements that detract from the main story-line. In Angels May Weep (1937) it was the starting of the dude ranch. Here it is the whole drama with Celise, and Judith's struggle to find a way to build a relationship with her. Unlike her later work from the 1950s - River's Rim (1950), The Inheritors (1953), The Open Way (1955) - where she seems better able to reconcile her disparate plot threads, her romances from the 1930s always seem as if they are made up of parts that don't fit together that comfortably. I found myself wishing, as I read this one, that the author had either chosen to tell the story of how the Peytons came back together again as a family, or how Judith chose between John and Michael, but somehow the two stories together didn't work for me. That said, I did enjoy the setting here. Judith does her research at The New York Public Library's 42nd Street location, just like I do, and she meets Michael by the famous lion statues outside on more than one occasion. I also appreciated the discussion of divorce, which was quite dated - apparently not a good idea, but if people do separate, expecting support from the man seems to be considered an injustice - but also fascinating.

Given how obscure this title is, and how difficult to track down, I'm not sure to whom I would recommend it. I read it because I am interested in the author, but it is definitely not one of her stronger stories. Perhaps readers researching American women's romantic fiction in the late 1930s might find this one of interest.

[Reading with Cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy cats, did this author have some bleak views on marriage if this book is anything to go by. One character goes back to her ex-husband not because she loves the man but because it makes her bratty young son’s life easier. Judith’s mother is demonized for accepting child support payments from the man who abandoned them. And Judith herself gets to choose between a priggish mama’s boy and a bully for her husband. Not once does she think to herself, “You know, I have a good job; I can tell both of these fools to fuck off.” I did enjoy the 1930s New York City setting, though.