‘Alchemy of a Blackbird’ is inventive historical novel | Book Talk

Spanish surrealist Remedios Varo and her friendship with the eccentric artist Leonora Carrington are the basis of “Alchemy of a Blackbird,” an inventive new historical novel by Cleveland author Claire McMillan.

Remedios was living the bohemian life in Paris with poet Benjamin Péret, who was more interested in deep conversation with surrealism founder André Breton than in encouraging Remedios. She was bringing in money by painting forgeries of works by an Italian artist.

Remedios and Leonora pass a bookseller who gives Remedios a tarot deck, and the artist becomes fascinated with divination. At the advance of the Nazis into Paris, she joins other “stray-dog artist types” in a kind of commune in Marseilles, surrounded by arrogant men who ignore or belittle women.

Some chapters are written in the third person; most begin with a tarot card from the classic deck by occultist Pamela Colman Smith, who drops the names William Butler Yeats and Aleister Crowley. The cards represent the characters who narrate the story.

Remedios and Péret relocate to Mexico City, where he continues to devalue her. Though she finds work in commercial art, including the stunning advertising campaigns she created for Bayer Pharmaceutical. It is not until Leonora arrives in Mexico that Remedios finds the support and inspiration she needs. What we would call New Age practices (crystals, talismans) ground the women.

The ingenious use of the tarot to portray the nature of the characters and the passing of wisdom between women make “Alchemy of a Blackbird” a satisfying read.

“Alchemy of a Blackbird” (288 pages, hardcover) costs $28 from Simon & Schuster. McMillan’s previous books include “The Gilded Age,” a reimagining of Edith Wharton’s “The House of Mirth,” and “The Necklace,” an Ohio-set melodrama about a woman who’s been made executor of her great-aunt’s estate.

‘The Wingmen’

How unlikely was the friendship between John Glenn and Ted Williams? For Kenyon College alumnus Adam Lazarus, it was very unlikely. "The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams" is an evaluation of the bond between the two famous men.

The book is more like a couple of biographies, playing up the parallels between the two men’s lives. How unlikely was the friendship? Both were Marine pilots, meeting when they were assigned to the same base in Korea in 1953. Of his neighbor in the next hut, Glenn wrote to his wife, Annie, “Met him — seems OK.”

How unusual was the friendship? Other than aviation, they had not much in common. Lazarus approaches the subject with alternating accounts, with little connection between the men: In 1959, Glenn visited the Red Sox clubhouse after a Senators game in Washington; later, Williams revealed that he had said a prayer during Glenn’s Friendship 7 orbit. They exchanged greeting cards and in 1988 both attended the Marine Corps Birthday Ball.

How unbreakable was the friendship? Williams was asked to endorse Glenn in his 1984 presidential campaign; instead, he supported “whoever the Republican candidate was.” Nevertheless, Glenn visited Williams during his final illness and served as a pallbearer at his funeral.

"The Wingmen: The Unlikely, Unusual, Unbreakable Friendship Between John Glenn and Ted Williams" (304 pages, hardcover) costs $29 from Citadel/Kensington. Adam Lazarus lives in Georgia.

Events

Fireside Book Shop (29 N. Franklin St., Chagrin Falls): Paris Kaufman signs “The Mageye (Book 1),” 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Cleveland Public Library: Christina McDonald joins the Writers Unplugged series to discuss “These Still Black Waters,” inaugural book in her Jess Lambert detective series, in a YouTube and Facebook Live event 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Register at cpl.org.

Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library: Rebecca Searle, author of “One Italian Summer” and “The Dinner List,” joins the Online Author Talk Series from 8 to 9 p.m. Wednesday. Register at smfpl.org.

First Congregational Church (47 Aurora St., Hudson): Actor and activist Tyler Merritt talks about “I Take My Coffee Black: Reflections on Tupac, Musical Theater, Faith and Being Black in America,” 7 p.m. Thursday. Register at hudsonucc.org.

Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): Doc Janning, poet laureate of South Euclid, reads from his collection “Before Yesterday – Beyond Tomorrow,” 7 p.m. Thursday.

Music Box Supper Club (1148 Main Ave., Cleveland): Jim Sweeney, author of “What’s the Deal with Dead Man’s Curve and Other Really Good Questions about Cleveland,” joins the Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties series with Audience Quiz Night, 7 p.m. Thursday. Dinner is $25; the lecture is free. Register at musicboxcle.com.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Mayfield branch, 500 SOM Center Road, Mayfield Village): Wendy Koile signs “Lake Erie Murder & Mayhem,” 2 to 3 p.m. Friday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Medina County Public Library (Brunswick branch, 3649 Center Road): Pickerington native Natalie D. Richards joins the Bookends Book Club to talk about her middle-grade novel “15 Secrets to Survival,” about four classmates lost in the wilderness, 4 to 5 p.m. Friday. Register at mcdl.info.

Medina County Public Library (210 S. Broadway St.): Natalie Richards joins the Cozy Mystery Series to talk about her young adult thriller “Four Found Dead,” about teenagers in danger in a defunct mall, 6:30 p.m. Friday. Register at mcdl.info.

Hudson Library & Historical Society: Historian Martyn Whittock, author of “American Vikings: How the Norse Sailed Into the Lands and Imaginations of America,” talks about the Viking heritage in America in a virtual event at 1 p.m. Saturday. Register at hudsonlibrary.org.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Brook Park branch, 6155 Engle Road): Burt W. Griffin, Warren Commission assistant counsel and author of “JFK, Oswald and Ruby: Politics, Prejudice and Truth,” is joined by retired Cleveland Municipal Judge C. Ellen Connally and documentary producer Todd Kwait, 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Alchemy of a Blackbird’ by Claire McMillan is inventive novel