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Claudia Keenan

Claudia Keenan is a historian of education and independent scholar who writes about American culture. She blogs at throughthehourglass.com.

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Claudia Keenan

Fiction

Pursuing the Dragon Lady in Italy, London and Rhodesia

Louisa Treger's The Dragon Lady (Bloomsbury) offers a nuanced perspective on British and African cultures during precarious times, the 1920s through the 1950s. It’s a wonderful mystery, love story and odyssey, all rolled into one. What's even more incredible is that this story is based on a real person. Yes,…
Claudia Keenan
August 13, 2019
Fiction

True Friendship Never Fades in Fiona Davis’ Latest

In Fiona Davis' The Chelsea Girls (Dutton), the shy cerebral Hazel Ripley and flamboyant Maxine Mead are thrown together for a USO performance in Naples, Italy, during World War II. They hate each other at first sight. Maxine regularly brings down the house while Hazel, whose reputation as a perpetual…
Claudia Keenan
July 31, 2019
Fiction

A Frenzied World of Fashion and Foreboding

It is a writer’s challenge to conjure those well-documented years sans clichés, to share a new story about a shocking time when German soldiers were increasingly glimpsed along the cobblestone streets and in the bars of the fanciest hotels. Parisians went about their business, but few lives were unaffected. Many…
Claudia Keenan
July 10, 2019
Fiction

Life, Love & Loss at the Dead Letter Depot

Lost letters have been around since the very beginning of correspondence. Illegible writing, no forwarding address: what happens to such missives? Historically, post offices have hired smart, trustworthy, kindly people who spend their days trying to track down senders and recipients. They function as detectives, really. Often their work involves…
Claudia Keenan
June 4, 2019