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This article is about the novel The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

The Guest Book is the story of two intertwined families in twentieth-century Germany and the U.S.

The Guest Book is a 2019 historical fiction novel written by American author Sarah Blake. The novel follows the story of three generations of the Miltons (an old money family who summer on their island off the coast of Maine) and the secrets they keep -— buried secrets that eventually come to light for a painful reckoning.

A New York Times Bestseller, the novel was first published in the United States on 7th May 2019 by Flatiron Books. It was published in 2020 for the United Kingdom by Viking Books, a subsidiary of Penguin. The Guest Book was selected as an Amazon Best Book of May 2019 and nominated to the longlist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence.

Most reviews were very favourable, commenting on Blake's imagination, use of fiction, simple, direct style and clever plot construction, although a few complained that some parts were very monotonous and insipid. Ranging from inner racism to entitlement, The Guest Book is a multi-generational drama set against a backdrop of war and social upheaval. An exquisitely written, heartbreaking family drama that highlights the disparity between the privileged and the poor, blacks and whites, Protestants and Jews. As one iconic family navigates the shifting social and political landscape from Crockett's Island, their family getaway off the coast of Maine, The Guest Book masterfully examines the life and legacy of that one remarkable family throughout three generations. As each generation struggles to understand what it means to inherit the past, Blake deftly exposes the memories and errors they create.

Plot
The novel opens in the 1930s. Before disaster destroys their world, Kitty and Ogden Milton live lives of affluence and opportunity. Neddie, their eldest child, perishes after falling from the Miltons' New York apartment window. Kitty's anguish is intolerable, and she is inconsolable. Ogden wants to move the family out of the city to try and ease some of her discomforts. He purchases Crockett's Island, a tiny island off the coast of Maine. Kitty heals in her tiny haven away from the rest of the world, and the family resumes the opulent lifestyle they enjoyed in New York, entertaining the wealthy and powerful.

The story jumps back and forth in time between that Kitty and Ogden and their granddaughter Evie. Evie, a middle-aged history professor at present, is debating whether to retain Crockett's Island in the family two generations later. Evie's mother Joanie recently passed away, leaving the Island in the care of Evie and her cousins. Evie makes an effort to resolve the family's divergent opinions about the Island. She is aware of its significance in her family's history, but things have changed financially and the Island needs a lot of support to continue operating. Additionally, it hasn't been running at all lately because of its nearly run-down and ramshackle condition.

Kitty has shown in the past that she takes her social standing very seriously. She values breeding and bloodlines highly and adheres to social and personal etiquette, submitting to her spouse because she believes it is the right thing to do. Kitty declines when one of Ogden's acquaintances asks the Miltons to house a young Jewish kid out of concern for how such a situation would be perceived by others. Ogden also conducts business during this period with a German steel producer who perhaps had ties to the Nazi administration. The boy's family believes they cannot take the danger of taking him in.

The three Milton children who are still alive grow up and experience their accomplishments and setbacks as the story progresses. Moss, the son of Kitty and Ogden, wants to be a musician. Joanie, their daughter, worries that her epilepsy diagnosis will keep her from finding a suitable husband, a matter that is extremely important to her class-conscious parents. Evelyn, their other daughter, resembles her parents the most.

Reg Pauling, an African American, and Len Levy, a Jew, two friends of Moss who have experienced prejudice as minorities in America, are included in the novel. Len and Joanie start dating, but he can't take things seriously because he's Jewish. Evie finds out later that she is the result of their brief relationship.

Evie is still debating whether to sell or preserve the Island in the present. She instinctively wants to keep it, but her husband coerces her into selling. Evie believes that there is still a lot of mystery around the past, both for her and her family. Evie didn't have all the information regarding Joanie's life and the lives of her family members because Joanie wasn't the talkative or outgoing type. Evie reconstructs her ancestry using pictures and other objects still on Crockett's Island. In the meantime, she lets Charlie stay in the main house because it was his father's final wish that he visit the island before he passed away. Charlie's last name is Levy, and Evie soon discovers that his father is Len. She and Charlie are half-siblings.

In the past, there has been a sizable gala in the main house to celebrate Evelyn's engagement on the night of Evie's conception. Len and Reg go to Moss's invitation. Kitty, Ogden, and their group respectfully tolerate the two outsiders. Later, while alone with Len on the beach, Joanie had a seizure. As a result of the mayhem, Len and Reg understand that the aristocratic crowd never truly welcomed them. Moss loses hope in the future and people when he sees how his friends are treated. He enters a rowboat and rows into open water, where he perishes.

Another son has now died for Kitty. Honoring Moss's final request, she makes friends with Len and Reg by overcoming her prejudice and imposed social barriers. Additionally, she leaves Reg Moss's portion of Crockett's Island to him in her will as restitution for the way she treated them.

After discovering this information, Evie has a deeper understanding of her family, of the ties that bind and those that break, and of the power of forgiveness.

Characters
•	Katherine H. Milton - Wealthy socialite living the good life in New York City. Aka: Kitty.

•	Miss Scrivener - A teacher.

•	Ogden Moss Milton - Kitty's husband. Aka: Og.

•	Neddy	 - One of Kitty's children.

•	Ogden Moss Milton Jr. - One of Kitty's children. aka: Moss.

•	Joan - One of Kitty's children. aka: Joanie.

•	Harriet	 - Ogden's mother.

•	Franklin D. Roosevelt - 32nd President of the United States.

•	Bernhard Walser - A businessman.

•	Gertrude - Bernhard Walser's wife.

•	Elsa Walser Hoffman - Bernhard's daughter.

•	Gerhard Hoffman - Elsa's husband. aka: Getan.

•	Franz - Gerhard's brother.

•	Herr Josten - Bernhard's acquaintance.

•	Private	Muller	- A soldier.

•	Bill Moffat - A writer.

•	Colonel Rutzbahr - One of the German officers.

•	Colonel Rudy Putzgraff - One of the German officers.

•	Wilhelm Hoffman - Elsa's son. aka: Willy.

•	Mrs Phipps - Kitty's mother's friend.

•	John D. Rockefeller - Head of the Standard Oil Company/One of the world's richest men.

•	Miss Lowenstein - Kitty's acquaintance.

•	Johnny	 - A doorman.

•	Frank - An elevator man.

•	Duncan Houghton - Kitty's cousin. aka: Dunc.

•	Evelyn - Kitty's youngest child.

•	John Singer Sargent - A painter.

•	Sarah Porter - A teacher.

•	Evie Milton - Joan's daughter.

•	Paul Schlesinger - Evie's husband.

•	Seth - Evie's son.

•	Minerva - Evie's cousin. aka: Min.

•	Mrs Withers - Kitty's acquaintance.

•	Honey	Schermerhorn	- Evie's oldest friend.

•	Franz Ferdinand - Austrian archduke.

•	Adolf Hitler - The leader of the Nazi Party.

•	Francisco Franco - The head of the government of Spain.

•	Benito	Mussolini - Italian political leader who became the fascist dictator of Italy.

•	Paul Joseph Goebbels	- A master orator and propagandist.

•	Harry Lowell Jr. - Ogden Milton's friend.

•	Joseph	Stalin - The ruler of the Soviet Union.

•	Theodore Roosevelt - 26th president of the United States.

•	Charles Lindberg - Ogden's acquaintance. aka: Lindy.

•	Hazel Graves - Evie's colleague.

•	Mrs Winslow - Kitty's acquaintance.

•	Priss - Duncan's wife.

•	Sally Lowell - Harry Lowell's wife.

•	Solly Weinberg - Ogden's acquaintance. aka: Sol.

•	Dick Sherman - Milton's lawyer.

•	Susie Bancroft	- Solly Weinberg's acquaintance.

•	Jo - Granny Houghton's gardener.

•	Henry H. Pratt - Evie's eldest cousin.

•	Dr Conklin - Seth's professor.

•	Mr Crockett - Former owner of the house.

•	Harry Lowell Sr. - Harry Lowell Jr.'s father.

•	William Shakespeare - English playwright and poet.

•	Reinhard Heydrich - A Nazi German official.

•	Jessie - A cook.

•	Polly Ames - Crocketts' daughter.

•	Fenno Weld - Mrs Ames' boy.

•	Frank Warren - A promoter.

•	Winston Churchill - British Prime Minister.

•	Barney	Rosset	- Joan's boss.

•	D.H. Lawrence	- An English writer.

•	Henry Miller - An American writer and artist.

•	William S. Burroughs	- American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and painter.

•	Allen Ginsberg - American poet and writer.

•	Leonard Levy - Ogden's employee. aka: Len.

•	Dr Southworth - Joan's physician.

•	Norman Mailer - Moss' acquaintance.

•	Reginald Pauling - African American writer. aka: Reg.

•	James Arthur Baldwin	- American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist.

•	Emmett Till - African American murder victim.

•	Daryl Norton is one of Evie and Paul's most trusted sparring partners.

•	Mrs Astor - Evie's acquaintance.

•	Maud - Evie's aunt.

•	Jonathan - Evie's great-uncle.

•	Henry James - American novelist.

•	Nathaniel Hawthorne	- American novelist, dark romantic and short story writer.

•	Eleanor Roosevelt - Former First Lady of the United States.

•	Macaulay Culkin - American actor.

•	Mrs Meecham	- Ogden's employee.

•	Proc Smedley - Ogden's acquaintance.

•	Jack Higginson - Ogden's business partner.

•	Addie - Jack's wife.

•	Whit Lord - Joan's acquaintance.

•	Mr Bacharach	- A photographer.

•	Sarah Pratt - Dickie's mother.

•	Dickie Pratt - Evelyn's fiancé. aka: Dick.

•	Miles Davis - American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.

•	Sigmund Freud - Austrian neurologist. The founding father of psychoanalysis.

•	Cassius	 Clay - Christian name of Muhammad Ali.

•	Ornette Coleman - American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer.

•	Pres Bancroft - A banker at Milton Higginson.

•	Jean-Moss' acquaintance.

•	Charles Dickens - English writer and social critic.

•	Jane Austen - English novelist.

•	Ralph Ellison - American novelist, literary critic, scholar, and writer.

•	Saul Bellow - Canadian American writer.

•	Augie March - Australian indie/pop rock band.

•	Dwight D. Eisenhower	 - 34th U.S. President.

•	Larkin Reed - An author.

•	Jack Slade - American criminal.

•	Lorraine Hansberry - American playwright and writer.

•	Philly Joe Jones - A drummer.

•	Jim Mollow - A trumpeter.

•	Young Dick Sherman - Moss' classmate.

•	Shepherd Pratt - One of Evie's cousins. aka: Shep.

•	Harriet - One of Evie's cousins.

•	Charles Levy - Len Levy's son. aka: Charlie.

•	Alice - Kitty's aunt.

•	William - Kitty's uncle.

•	Anne Pratt - Dickie's sister. aka: Annie.

•	Roger Pratt - Dickie's father.

•	Mrs Hunnicut - One of Milton's acquaintances.

•	Jimmy Ames - Milton's caretaker.

•	Aldo Weld - Chairman of the Philosophy Department at Harvard.

•	Fanny - A lecturer.

•	Abby - Evelyn's friend.

•	Griswold Adams - One of Ogden's acquaintances.

•	Mike Wallace - One of Ogden's acquaintances.

•	Adlai Stevenson - 23rd vice president of the United States.

•	George	 - Miles Davis' drummer.

•	Malcolm X - African American civil rights leader.

•	Cole Porter - American composer and songwriter.

•	Eddie Fenwick	- Anne Pratt's husband.

•	Mrs Marstead	- A cook.

•	Anthony Trollope - English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era.

•	Gary Cooper - American actor.

•	Evans - A principal.

•	Possy - Charlie's daughter.

•	Franny	- Joan's cousin.

•	Peggy - One of Milton's guests.

•	Babs - One of Milton's guests.

•	Oatsie Matthews - One of Milton's guests.

•	Cy Matthews - One of Milton's guests.

•	Teeni - One of Milton's guests.

•	Bing Lamont - One of Milton's guests.

•	Constance Ludlow - Teeni and Bing's daughter.

•	Elliot Lamont - Constance's husband.

•	Fillmore Baker Jr. - One of Milton's guests.

•	Granny	 Baker - One of Milton's guests.

•	Fillmore Sr. - One of Milton's guests.

•	Mrs Cheever - One of Milton's guests.

•	Mrs Gould - One of Milton's guests.

•	Maisie	Cunningham - One of Milton's guests.

•	Bill - Maisie's brother.

An Interview with Sarah Blake
The following is a conversation between the author and the interviewer:

'"Let's start with the setting. I was curious about whether Crockett's Island was an actual place. When I searched Google, I discovered a Crockett's Cove in Maine. Is the island based on somewhere you know or have visited?"'

"Yes! It is definitely inspired by an island I grew up going to, one that my grandparents bought in 1936. The way in which Kitty and Ogden come upon Crockett's is similar to my family's story, and the real Crockett's Cove is a place I know very, very well. That said, I feel the need to mention that what happens to the Miltons in The Guest Book is a completely fictional departure from my family's story. However, I certainly feel like our island was the genesis for me as a fiction writer."

'"How is it similar?"'

"Well, like the Milton family's retreat, ours was a place where all kinds of "family quiet"--or the silences, if you will--were active. In many ways, The Guest Book was born from my own questions. What does it mean to have an island? It grounds my own place in the social realm by setting me as very much someone who is white, old-moneyed, who has privileges others do not."

'"The Guest Book explores race, religion and social class in a way that feels new, like the reader is being invited to get closer to issues that are often uncomfortable."'

"When I started this novel in 2010 I really wanted to explore and interrogate my own place in the structure of this country, both in terms of race and class. I felt ready to examine who I was within the larger conversation. As you remember, in 2010 Barack Obama was president and, with his election, the conversation about race in the U.S. seemed to have kicked up to the surface in a way that was so exciting and liberating for me. So the question becomes: How do we talk about the past? How do you put race forward? How are we talking?"

'"Why is it important that we learn how to have those difficult conversations? After all, it is easier to sweep things under the proverbial rug, to pretend our reality isn't what it is."'

"Because there are such repercussions of not having those conversations and they echo for generations through our silence. That impacts who we are. There is also the need to know and understand one's own personal history within the context of the world's history and to make sense of the present, too. Now more than ever."

'"Your protagonist Evie, a history professor, challenges her students to think deeply on that idea."'

"Right. Who would you have been, back then? What would you have said? If you can answer that, then who would you be right now--when that same structure is still so clearly in place? I think about history a lot and how history is inside us. It is very much a part of all my work. We speak the silences that we've been passing on. I wanted to take it head on and make that the subject of this novel in a very real, relatable way. And to be cognizant of that history happening each day, each moment. And to be aware of who we are as it is happening because it influences everything we do, our actions, our beliefs, the need to know and understand one's history in order to understand the present. I feel like it is a constant struggle not to look away."

'"Clearly, there's a lot to unpack in this novel. Who was your favorite character to write?"'

"Oh, what a great question! I have no idea! This was such a diffuse novel to write, with moments of intense concentration on each character, so I would say each one was my favorite as I was writing them. I loved Reg."

'"Reg seems to be a modern-day James Baldwin, who you reference several times in The Guest Book. Can you talk about the significance of Baldwin in relation to the themes you are trying to convey to readers?"'

"The idea that history is trapped in us, as Baldwin wrote, has fueled and inspired me through everything I've ever written. I knew that this novel was going to take that idea literally. What does that mean to have history trapped in us? What does that mean for the conversation about race in this country? To understand that, I read and re-read all of Baldwin and immersed myself in his work. He was so ahead of his time, especially in his fiction. Through Baldwin, I got a greater sense of Reg's character. I wanted to have Baldwin's voice present by him being someone Reg knows."

'"Another concept that intrigued me was the idea of "the anchoress," which is Evie's academic area of interest and relates to a woman in the 1300s who was literally bricked up in an abbey. I see this as a symbol for women's silences throughout history but also as someone who anchors a family, or carries on that history."'

"You know, that is so wild--I never thought of the anchoress as a female anchor of a family! But you've just connected that so perfectly. I see my characters Kitty and Evie in that role. Joan, too. It was meant to convey how women exist inside of institutions and the family is certainly one. An anchor is something that can sink you. With the Milton women, what has the potential to sink them is their own truth. In their own way, Kitty, Joan and Evie construct walls to hide aspects of their history and who they really are."

'"How long did it take you to write The Guest Book?"'

"I don't seem to be able to write a novel that happens chronologically. They all seem to move horizontally. What I really want to do is move back and forth through time--stories that walk the same path, people coming in and out of the same room, history as echoing and foretelling. That's very hard to do and takes a long time."

'"That theme of history being both echoing and foretelling is very clear in your novel and something that resonated deeply with me, especially with the character of Elsa. I saw her as almost a harbinger from the past, a character who has a message for us today in terms of "the other." At one point she says, "It's a mistake to think the news happens to someone else, the news happens to you.""'

"I love that idea of her being a kind of harbinger. She is both speaking forward and very much in her present and our present. I was interested in collapsing the notion of history being past. We are continually walking over history, over and over again, because we keep carrying it forward. There were people, like Elsa, who in 1936 could see so clearly what was happening in Germany and the world. That is the challenge for us now. To look and to confront rather than just retell. We need to ask ourselves, 'how clearly are we looking?'"

Reviews
Always with a Book - Kristin:

I loved this book and while it is a big book, coming in at just about 500 pages, once you start it, you slowly find yourself immersed in the world of this family. Yes, even I had to make myself a family tree to keep the characters straight because there are the same names used over and over again and it does get a bit confusing, but once you get everyone straight, and get into the rhythm of the story, it all starts to come together. This book spans three generations, and so we move with the family as they navigate the decades between the 1930s and the present. There’s a lot of drama that goes on in this family during this time, and some of that drama is never discussed after it happens which is a big bone of contention.

The story examines class and status and the consequences of these. It tells the story of one family, The Miltons, and those around them, as they experience tragedies, wealth and the choices they make that have long, unspoken consequences for themselves and others. It shows how families of prominence did not speak of their failings or tragedies – everything went unsaid and the face of the family was perfection…thus the family secrets that were kept from generation to generation.

I loved how the book alternates between the past and the present and as such we are thrown little bits and pieces of the family’s history throughout the story. This little pieces then slowly form the big picture. I found myself completely enthralled and baffled by the characters all at once. Each character is very complex and well written to show that no one is entirely good or bad. You will definitely have opinions on all these characters, for sure.

I really enjoyed this book. It’s incredibly thought-provoking and beautifully written. It’s the type of book you want to take your time reading, rather than race through as there is much to take in, but in the end it is well-worth all the time you give it.

The following is from "'bright, beautiful things'":

This book is nothing short of arduous in both content and writing style. One or the other would have been enough, but it’s difficult to find something to like about either. Lilting descriptions disguise the fact that nothing actually happens for hundreds of pages. Given that it spans three generations and provides details about all of them, there are long lists of things that happen along with all the minutiae of the island and the scenery. The point of view wanders in and out of different characters’ perspectives, sometimes with neat section breaks, but sometimes in the middle of a page. It’s hard to know who is thinking what at times but, worse, it forces the reader to pay total attention at all times. It’s exhausting and took entirely too long to get through.

The characters are worse. The only likeable ones, and the only ones with a shred of self-awareness, are the marginalized: Len, a Jewish man, Reg, an African-American man, Moss, a closeted gay man, and Joan, a girl with epilepsy. Guess which characters don’t get happy endings? The ones who are already in the margins. There’s hardly a tolerable Milton to be found except for Moss, who at least tries to understand how he comes from a position of privilege. The rest of them, Kitty and Ogden as possibly the worst, stay safely behind their money, their whiteness, and their manners. They would never be so gauche as to make their island guests uncomfortable, but those guests are always guests and never one of them; they’re progressive enough to hire a Jewish man, but their daughter could never marry one. The hypocrisy is almost a little worse than straightforward bigotry. The Miltons have the power to change things, but they fail to acknowledge that there’s even a problem. They flat-out refuse to deal with their issues, whether those are past mistakes or on-page character deaths, so there’s never any chance for development.

And it doesn’t get better with Evie. As the newest and maybe last generation of Miltons, she’s in a position to acknowledge the sins committed by her family, but she doesn’t. (Unlike her mother, Evie does marry a Jewish man but doesn’t listen when he tries to tell her she’s privileged.) The characters are philosophical, but not introspective in a way that matters, and the island is a symbol of a toxic, privileged, and anti-Semitic history that they refuse to let go of. Throughout the novel, she’s more preoccupied with losing the island (or, God forbid, changing anything about it) than she is with where that island money came from. There’s no sense of development when she finally learns the truth; if there was, I have a feeling the island dilemma would have been resolved in a completely different way. My drama professor used to say that one of the best ways to test our knowledge of a play was to guess what happens the day after the story ends. So often, the answer is exactly the same thing that already happened, and that’s my overwhelming sense with The Guest Book. Evie and the others learned nothing, and their legacy of quiet hypocrisy and privilege will continue the way it always has.