These responses speak to the enjoyment my writing has brought to readers:
“Saxon you have done it again – you bring everything to life so vividly!” —Pippa Roberts, Pippa Roberts Publicity and Communications, Hertfordshire, UK.
“You are the best writer of descriptive narrative for inanimate objects I’ve ever read. You give things a soul through your words. You just do.” —Gerard McLean, author and cofounder Sharktooth Press.
About The Modern Salonnière:
Reading Saxon Henry’s new book feels like a best friend just took me by the hand to time-travel through history, alighting on the lives of fascinating creators; artists, poets, musicians, and writers. The tone of this lovely, intimate book is one of wonder and intrigue. The experiences that the author explores come from her deeply rooted belief in mining history for inspiration. Many of the brilliant people that Saxon writes about are familiar names and yet in every single essay there are expressive nuggets of information that only someone who was genuinely immersed in their lives would know. The book is not only a panoply of captivating characters, but it is also a journey with literary stops in France, England, Italy, Africa, and Argentina. Saxon Henry also travels within the US, frequenting the libraries and museums where historic source material weaves its magically authentic spell. The author mentions that not unlike Edna St. Vincent Millay, there is not a train she wouldn’t take, especially if it led her into the past. We can only hope that she keeps traveling and will continue to write for her provocative modern salonnière. – JoAnn Locktov.
WOW! An amazing collection of essays from Saxon Henry! If you are a lover of travel (armchair or IRL), a lover of historical characters, or a lover of the written word, this book is for you! Saxon is a writer’s writer. She brings each location and each infamous personality of the past to life with her poetic descriptions, her exhaustive research, and her apt reflections on each time, place, and relationship. I loved reading this collection! I am not usually a good student of history, but Saxon’s latest work made me want to know more and to do my own research before the next time I find myself at the departure gate. Thank you for the well-written time travel to look at those writers and artists who came before us, Saxon. There is so much to learn from them—and this book holds the most fabulous lessons. What a treat! – Lacey N. Howard.
Dear Saxon~ I’m reading your book The Modern Salonnière as I sit on the veranda of our tent set up on the fringe of the Serengeti. I am only one third through it and I greedily want to own every story for myself. Hildebrandt starlings are chirping, flies are buzz buzzing, the cool breeze is brushing my face and monkeys are playing on the canvas roof as I savor every word. Thank you so much. Your book is like a rich satisfying cup of rooibos tea and I just wanted to let you know. – Michael Berman.
A map will take you far, but a story will take you farther. Pair a story with a map and you will get lost in the most delightful places. In her latest collection of essays, The Modern Salonnière, Saxon Henry leads you beyond the places pinned on the maps, into stories and places that were always there for you to discover, hidden in plain sight. Henry has a flair for description that plunges the reader into a visceral experience — the rolling motion of a train as it lumbers upstate, the wafting scent of baking bread and brewing coffee just inside the door of a cafe in Paris, the hot nights of an African plain, the thrill of discovery from a stolen dalliance — you literarily feel these on your skin, in the recesses of your chest and the swelling of your veins. As you turn the last page, you’ll realize you got lost in time and space, having walked forty leagues through literary history without leaving your chair. You will be exhausted, but ache to board Henry’s next book. – Gerard McLean.
Hi Saxon, I just want you to know that your book has been my constant friend through the last few at-home months. I‘ve soooo enjoyed virtually every one of your essays. They have often taken me to places I’ve been before, but seeing them through your eyes and tales has made them really come alive. And I can’t wait to walk some of those same locations again. I find even just one or perhaps two at a sitting is plenty to digest, as they are sooo well written, with picturesque descriptions and sophisticated word use. And I’ve found myself frequently reading one through twice in a sitting, to fully enjoy it. I’m about 2/3rds of the way through at this point, and reading slowly by purpose to savor every word. It’s a brilliant work: Congratulations! I just had to write and tell you how really rare and special I find it. – Dixon Bartlett.
Thank you, Saxon Henry, for sharing your dreams and your imagination with us in your new book, The Modern Salonnière. I am savoring each word! – Justin Shaulis.
Saxon Henry, I stumbled across “Calamities of the Heart” quite by chance and boy am I glad I did. I ordered the book and I can’t express what a wonderful romp it’s been. Nikki Giovanni, in “Kidnap Poem” wrote:
Ever been kidnapped
by a poet
if i were a poet
i’d kidnap you
put you in my phrases and meter
You to jones beach
or maybe coney island
or maybe just to my house
lyric you in lilacs
dash you in the rain
blend into the beach
to complement my see
Play the lyre for you
ode you with my love song
anything to win you
wrap you in the red Black green
show you off to mama
yeah if i were a poet i’d kid
nap you
you have kidnapped me and whisked me off on a magical ride through space and time. Leonardo, Homer, Petrarch, Peggy Guggenheim, Dylan Thomas, it’s as if I’ve known them and spent a day with each one. I’m getting near the end and getting scared. I don’t want it to end!!! I can only use your words when quoting Edna St Vincent Millay, “there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take, No matter where it’s going.” I would have to agree, though I prefer the ones I take to be leading me back in time so I can mine history for inspiration.” I could say your book was my “train’ but I think I prefer to think it was a magic carpet ride!!! – Nesti Mendoza.
About Lives Illuminated:
“If The Modern Salonniére left you exhausted after having walked forty leagues in a sprint away from Paris, Lives Illuminated will recharge your soul with its long, leisurely strolls through the streets of eleven cities. Lives Illuminated is Saxon Henry’s second Modern Salonniére book, with essays stretched out as relaxed, casual, detail-enriched ambles through the lives of their subjects; Edith Wharton’s heartbreak in New Haven, Marie Louise of Austria in Parma, King Charles V in Paris and several others including Goethe, Collette, and Djuna Barnes. Henry even tosses in a cheeky pun or two to keep what could easily be seen as dense reading light and casual. Her deeply researched narrative flows effortlessly with her easy descriptive style. Like her previous modern salonniére book, hours have passed in a few minutes, hundreds of pages have turned and dozens of conversations been had, leaving the reader craving just one more anecdote, one more nugget of insight.” —Gerard McLean, publisher Sharktooth Press.
“I have never been a history buff. In fact, if I’m being completely honest, I’ve always found history—at least the way it was taught to me in school—completely and utterly boring. And I mean BOR-RING. I just have zero patience or brain space for rote memorization of dates and facts. I have distinct memories of my high school U.S. History teacher’s thick black beard, corduroy blazers with leather elbow patches, and monotone mumble, but almost nothing about the subject itself. If only Saxon Henry could have been my teacher for just one of those hour-long (but seemingly endless) history classes, I would have certainly become spellbound and an avid learner. An accomplished and engaging storyteller, Henry turned me into just that by capturing my imagination and captivating my heart with The Modern Salonniere and book two of the series, Lives Illuminated, proves even better. From the ill-fated political partnership of Napoleon and Marie-Louise of Austria to the Fitzgeralds’ tortured literary marriage and the passionate love story of Collette and Maurice, her study of these couples and the various personalities and talents within each partnership as well as their development—or devolvement—as world events blossomed and evolved around them sent me on a time traveling adventure that brought to life all the detail and humanization that the rote memorization of my school-age learnings missed by a mile.
“I also appreciate Henry’s affinity for teaching me about several strong women who made their own mark on history by thriving despite being forced into bad marriages, holding her own as the only woman in a group of heady male peers, and soaring on her career path despite leaving her husband out of the spotlight—something very few women of the past were able to accomplish (see also: Fitzgeralds). I’m grateful to know the stories of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Edith Wharton, and Giuditta Pasta. And not just surface stories, but deep dives into their personal lives and careers as is Henry’s charming way of storytelling. In short, my time spent with Lives Illuminated was absolutely the best history lesson I’ve ever experienced. I was absolutely enchanted with each and every story. And I’ll be first in line to pick up Henry’s book three of the series. Until then, I’ll just keep studying the history lessons in books one and two.” —Lacey Howard, magazine editor.
“Lives Illuminated is Saxon Henry’s second captivating foray into the world of astonishing writers, royalty, aristocrats, and performers. Her eloquent prose captures the familiar in new contexts as she explores their lives and loves. We travel to magical destinations, transmitted to us through Saxon’s eyes, as she shares her intriguing adventures, which authenticate each essay. Deeply researched and profoundly nuanced, Lives Illuminated is an intimate journey of historical discovery.” — JoAnn Locktov, publisher of the Dream of Venice series.
“Saxon Henry has already traveled to the past with her meticulous research so that we, the readers, may engage with these illuminated figures as if they are presently walking among us. Fully transported to places that rise beyond just setting to actual characters, we are invited to join Henry as she intentionally travels these connective journeys, not altogether different from parts of our own. Henry’s creative nonfiction writing is more than just a telling of biographical stories. She personally takes us along with her as she intentionally travels the living, vibrant journey of these ever-present figures. Journeys that transcend time and place. History, archeology, and intentional traveling—stuff from which truth is uncovered—are brilliantly captured in Henry’s creative nonfiction writing and unfailing curiosity of how place as a character itself transports and informs the reader traveling along the living, vibrant journey of Lives Illuminated.”—Susan Shaw, museum docent and avid traveler.
