Daisy

BOOKLIFE PRIZE QUARTER FINALIST

A reimagining of The Great Gatsby from Daisy Buchanan's point of view.

No empty-headed fool, Daisy Buchanan tells her side of the story of that tumultuous summer in the 1920s when she reunites with her first love, Jay Gatsby. Unlike her cousin Nick's recounting, her version tells readers what was in the letter that Jay sent to her on the eve of her wedding to Tom Buchanan that almost had her calling off the ceremony, and who was really driving the car that killed her husband's mistress. Although she wishes sometimes she could be a sprite (akin to the flickering green light at the end of her pier), Daisy comes to realize that charting her own destiny means making hard choices, for herself and her precious daughter.

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"Introducing a feisty protagonist with a girlish charm, Sternberg’s book shifts the storytelling genius from Fitzgerald to Nick Carraway...The author writes with a poised composure that reads like a continuation of Fitzgerald’s prose...(and) reconstructs a timeless American novel by adding compassion to Fitzgerald’s superficial relationships. Rather than defining her characters by wealth, she strips her story of financial interest and focuses on romance and female empowerment. Her book offers a new perspective that alters how one perceives Fitzgerald’s characters. In Fitzgerald’s novel, Daisy acts as an ornament to the male species, yet in this book, the author gives her agency...A delightful portrayal of a female character claiming the story as her own, repossessing her own voice." BookLife Prize Contest