Glimmer As You Can: A Novel

The 1960s may feel like a modern age to us, but the truth was that women living in those days still lacked many freedoms modern women may take for granted. Even more than now, their lives were defined by marriage and children, and they were often entirely at the mercy of their husbands.||In Danielle Martin’s Glimmer as You Can, however, women also have a way to escape. After closing time, dressmaker Madeline opens the doors of her shop to women who need a place to exist outside of the men in their lives. They read poetry, drink, and dance, reveling in their brief freedom. It’s uneasy freedom, though; Madeline’s ex-husband is bitter about the way she left him, and he’s eager to take his revenge one way or another.

Glimmer as You Can is beautifully written, and I loved seeing the ways women show their differences in drive and passion. Elaine and Lisa, the two protagonists, are perfect examples of this: Elaine knows exactly what she wants from life and will fight for it, while Lisa is constantly uncertain of herself, not even sure what she yearns for except that she does yearn. I only wish the author had delved deeper into the differences between these women, as at some points their troubles with men and jobs felt all too similar.