Anya Seton: A Writing Life
This fascinating biography of Anya (born Ann) Seton covers the entirety of the beloved author’s life, from the childhood of her parents until her death in 1990. Seton, known for research-based fiction including My Theodosia (1941), Katherine (1954), and The Winthrop Woman (1958), wrote bestsellers that didn’t break into the “literary fiction” category, mostly due to the male-dominated publishing and reviewing structure of the mid-20th century. That struggle, to be lauded as a literary presence, as well as to get out from under the shadows of her prolific writer parents, Ernest Thompson Seton and Grace Gallatin Seton Thompson, is recorded in blunt and emotional detail in Seton’s journals.
The family allowed MacKethan access to these diaries, which chronicle both the mundane and the glorious from a previously unheard perspective. Readers are put squarely in the middle of Seton’s life, where they can hear in Seton’s own words about her writing process, her insecurities and passions, and the career-long tensions between being a writer and a wife, mother, and daughter. Unlike most biographies, MacKethan rarely strays into critique or conjecture; she sticks closely to the diaries and other sources including correspondence and published reviews. That makes revelations about Seton’s life—highly sexual and self-promoting—even more affecting. Seton doesn’t spare either her adoration or ire towards friend, family, husbands and lovers, which can be uncomfortable reading at times, but also humanizing.
Those unfamiliar with Seton’s historical novels will also glean valuable contextual information about how the characters and plots evolved and the depth of research that went into each of her ten books. Seton’s journal chronicling her final years has unfortunately been lost, which leads to a fairly abrupt ending. Research notes and images round out this absorbing life story.
