Marlene Wagman-Geller

Books have the power to alter the course of history. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, that depicted the horrors of slavery, helped ignite the American Civil War. Lore holds that when Harriet visited the White House, President Abraham Lincoln greeted her by asking, “So you are the little woman who started this great war?”

The book that impacted my life was Grace Metalious’s 1956 novel, Peyton Place. In 2008, I was in my local Barnes and Noble searching for a novel-my emotional support system. As Gwenyth Paltrow was starring in a screen adaptation of Peyton Place, I decided that would be my next read. 

I was fascinating by the story that took place in a quaint 1950s New England town. On the surface, Peyton appeared very Christian, very conservative. (This was in keeping with the era when television sitcom couples slept in twin beds.) However, under the serene surface was a hotbed of alcoholism, adultery, and illegitimacy.

After I had finished the riveting novel, in an act of serendipity, I chanced upon its dedication page that bore the words: “To George-for all the reasons he knows so well.”  My inner yenta was intrigued, “Who was George? What were  the reasons he knew so well?” I researched the answers, and Grace’s story rivalled that of her novel.

Enthralled at the story behind the story, I became a Dedication Detective. Oscar Wilde, in his meditation, “De Profundis,” dedication bore the words, “Dear Boisie.” Boisie was  the nickname for his lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, the Judas who had led to Oscar’s incarceration in Reading Gaol. Ernest Hemingway dedicated For Whom  the Bell Tolls to his wife, Martha Graham. When Martha put the moratorium on their marriage, the man scorned rued his earlier tribute. In Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand’s dedication-a study in chutzpah- read, “To Frank O’Connor and Nathaneil Branden.” Frank was Ayn’s husband, Nathaniel, her lover. When the latter dumped the Russian writer for a  younger woman, Ayn’s fury knew no bounds. Future editions expunged her former lover’s name.

What precedes the opening line of a novel is oftentimes as fascinating as the story itself. In the dedication page, writers truly enter the confessional. Because of the one in Peyton Place, Penguin/Perigee published my book Once Again to Zelda: The Stories Behind Literature’s Most Intriguing Dedications. I chose  the title of my book based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s dedication in  the Great Gatsby: “ONCE AGAIN TO ZELDA.” Zelda was his wife, the woman who impacted his life, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst.