The Typewriter's Tale

Combining fact with fiction, Heyns recreates the society in the little town of Rye around the celebrated author Henry James, 'the Master', as seen through the cool gaze of his typist, Frieda Wroth. Admiring of the great author, she nevertheless feels marginalised and under-valued, a mere typewriter, amidst the stolid servants and chattering guests. But when the dashing Morton Fullerton comes to visit, Frieda finds herself at the centre of an intrigue every bit as engrossing as the novels she types every day, bringing her into conflict with the flamboyant Edith Wharton, and compromising her loyalty to her employer. The urbane, long-winded Henry James, the suave, witty Morton Fullerton and the voracious, larger-than life Edith Wharton - caught in a triangle of which she only gradually comes to understand the nature, Frieda tries to obey the Master's dictum - 'Live all you can; it's a mistake not to.' But living, she finds, exacts a price - it takes place at the expense of other lives.