Story Collection ALMOST FAMOUS WOMEN by Megan Bergman

ALMOST FAMOUS WOMEN is a short story collection of real women who lived in the 1st 1/2 of the 20th C in Europe & Amer.  While the historic central female in all Bergman's stories existed, they were less consequential than their more famous relative or lover.  Being in the parameters of fame lends an interesting perspective which is woven into intriguing fictitious tales.  The stories also shed light dark epochs in history:  WWI Europe & the south during Jim Crow era. This is Bergman's 2nd book of short stories.  Her debut collection BIRDS of PARADISE was honored in the Best Amer. Short Story Collection of 2011.  Her clear & courageous writing creates memorable characters.  These women are touching, tenacious, somber and mavericks for their time. We gleam something of Edna Vincent Millay's genius and austere upbringing through her b'wy actress sister Norma.  A moving tale of selfless love is framed around Lord Byron's illegitimate daughter Allegra. Byron relinquished her to a nunnery at age 4 where she soon died.  Oscar Wilde's niece, Dolly Wilde, was an ambulance drivers in WWI whose life was shattered by her war experiences.  My favorite story "Saving Butterfly McQueen," was about the actress who played Vivien Leigh's squeamish maid in GONE WITH the WIND.  She was a staunch atheist and maintained her stance amongst religious zealots in the bible belt south.  "The Internees" is a poignant story about the women liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp which speaks for women & humanity.  The British soldiers opened a box of lipstick "and threw tubes of lipstick at the crowd, and we wanted it-we were surprised how badly we wanted it. We had pink wax on our rotten teeth.  We were human again. We were women."