Vintage Woman by D.J. Fronimos & Elke Lakey is a time travel story that puts a mid-century housewife under the protective wing of a modern butch lesbian.
Pulling a horse and trailer through dark and rainy city streets is tough enough, but then a woman runs in front of Cory Wolff’s rig. After reluctantly helping her to a hospital to fix the cut on her head, Cory finds herself continuing to help the gorgeous but strange young woman who remembers nothing about herself.
Evelyn is very grateful to the sweet young man who rescued her and she’s going to thank him with home-cooked meals and a spotless house until her memory returns and she can go home. Cory’s mother in a nearby house becomes a fast friend and seems happy that she and Cory are becoming ever closer. It’s an oasis of calm in a world that has become almost completely unrelatable.
Tragedy in Cory’s early life causes her to shy from close relationships, and Evelyn is shocked to discover Cory is not only not a man, but they’re developing strong feelings for each other. Will Evelyn return to the age she understands and where she has a home? Or will she stay with the love neither thought they could have?
Writing
The book is listed as paranormal, but I would qualify it as science fiction because of the time travel mechanism. No matter how Evelyn arrives into a seriously different age – in so many ways – the continually confusing and disturbing differences create constant fractures and not a little humor. It also nicely sets up the big question of will Evelyn return to her own time.
It might cause some readers a bit of angst to wait a long while for Evelyn to get her memories back, and just as importantly, for everyone to understand she’s in the wrong time. But I thought it was a great way to up the romantic tension, as the two fall in love without truly understanding how high the stakes are.
Both women on the surface seem a little perfect. Evelyn as the perfect little housewife and Cory as her perfect gentleman. As with Evelyn’s reemerging memories and time displacement, perfection takes longer than expected to be reduced to relatable levels.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
I really enjoyed Evelyn mistaking Cory for a man, even more because she doesn’t catch the mistake right away. It’s one of many ways the authors emphasize the huge differences in their worlds. The time fracture creates a lot of opportunity for angst that is often funny at the same time. It would have been easy to go over the top with this aspect, but I never felt like the authors went there.
Is your secret fantasy that a beautiful old fashioned housewife would come forward in time to become the perfect partner you can lavish your attentions on? Cory may not know why Evelyn cooks and cleans like no one she’s ever known, but her acceptance of it tickled my funny bone. The fantasy is unrealistic, of course, because women were just as diverse back then as they are now. But playing with the stereotype worked fine for me, mostly because of Evelyn’s progression into a modern life.
I liked how long the authors kept Evelyn in the dark about a lot of things, and correspondingly, kept Cory and her mother from knowing a key part of Evelyn. It leaves a lot of opportunity for speaking at cross purposes, which ups the tensions and is funny at the same time. When the time travel element is discovered it’s not a cute moment but some harsh times, which I thought was more realistic and better drama.
Heads Up
Depiction of a tragic death. Playing with stereotypes that some might find objectionable.
The Conclusion
The night Cory nearly runs into Evelyn while pulling a horse trailer changes both their lives forever. Evelyn can’t remember anything at all, but she’s grateful for all the help the “nice young man” gives her. Cory is reluctant to play gallant hero to the beautiful young woman, but she just can’t help herself. The more time they spend together and the closer they become, learning about Evelyn’s time travel could easily become a deal breaker for both of them.
Patience is required by the reader because the authors spend a lot of time putting Cory and Evelyn together in the confusing situation of neither knowing Evelyn is in the wrong time. She doesn’t understand a lot about her new world and Cory doesn’t understand why Evelyn is so clueless, leading to a good balance of angst and humor.
The concept of the book is predicated on some stereotypes about both mid-century housewives and modern butch lesbians. I didn’t feel it veered into unreasonable areas and I enjoyed the changes both women went through as they fell in love and learned some shocking truths.
Excerpt from Vintage Woman by D.J. Fronimos & Elke Lakey
“I’m so sorry, I – “ Evelyn was bent over in front of the open refrigerator, picking up the pieces of a jar of jam that had broken, when she turned her head toward Cory. She froze, her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide. “Are you…he didn’t tell me, I mean, you look so much alike…are you Cory’s twin sister?”
“What the – ?” Cory flipped the light on before she stepped on any shards in her bare feet. “I have a sister, all right, but we’re not twins.”
“Cory?” Evelyn stood up straight, looking Cory up and down as she stood in her thin pajamas in front of her. “You’re not a…you’re a…” Confusion turned her face beet red but it soon morphed into anger. “What kind of game are you playing? All this time letting me think you were a man. I don’t understand this at all!”
Evelyn pushed past Cory and ran toward her bedroom.
“Now, you wait a minute!” Cory caught her before she could slam the door in her face and blocked it with her foot. “I wasn’t playing any games.”
“What kind of person does such a thing? And you thought I was up to no good.”
Evelyn backed up against the dresser, putting as much distance between herself and Cory as the small room allowed. “Just because I can’t remember certain things doesn’t mean I don’t know right from wrong. And setting out to deceive people is just wrong, no matter why you think you have to pass for a man.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake! “I don’t even like guys, so why would I try to pass as one?”
Evelyn sank down heavily on the bed. “I know I haven’t been completely in my right mind these past few days, but I just don’t get this as all. From all visible evidence at this moment, if you’ll forgive my bluntness, you are, in fact, not a man at all.”
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Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 9781685503697
Publisher: JMS Books
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