The Green Lace Corset

October 1, 2020
A green lace corset connects the stories of two young women whose lives are separated by a century in this final volume of a trilogy. Anne McFarland is taking a much-needed vacation from her teaching position at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In Flagstaff, Arizona, she wanders into a vintage resale shop and discovers a tempting corset with its matching "flouncy" skirt. Anne, a character in all three of Hall's novels, is a collage and mosaic artist and a collector of a variety of esoteric items--her "found objects"--many of which wind up in her works. Still coping with her recent breakup with her fiance, Sergio Parmeggianno, she is also struggling with her application for an artist-in-residence grant from the museum. The author, an artist herself, spends considerable time elaborating on Anne's creative process. Although this occasionally slows down the drama, it also provides a primer for budding artists. The second tale, which alternates with Anne's saga, is set in 1885. Twenty-five-year-old Sally Sue Sullivan is traveling by train from Kansas City, Missouri, to spend a week caring for her sick aunt. A tall, handsome man with "steel-blue eyes" sits across from her. Before long, with building terror, she realizes those are the eyes of the bank robber who recently held a gun to her chest after killing a guard. Her fears are validated when Clifford Canyon, spotting Sally Sue's flicker of recognition, surreptitiously takes her hostage, bringing her to a farmhouse on an isolated parcel of land outside Flagstaff. As the two narratives progress, each woman faces a series of life-changing decisions. Anne is trying to maintain her independence from Sergio, who wants her back, and Sally Sue keeps looking for a way to escape from Cliff even as they form a complicated co-dependent relationship. Through Hall's depiction of Sally Sue's eventual determination to become self-sufficient (learning horseback riding, cooking, and shooting a gun), the author paints an informative portrait of the rigors and dangers of frontier life. The book's ending creates the potential for a new work related to the series. A light, pleasant summer read that focuses on two women carving their own paths.

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