In Franklin's Chair: Private Conversations - Paperback

by Maggy Clifton (Author)

It's not often that you find a new, humorous fiction novel with a quote from a 113-year-old obscure poem, "Female of the Species," written by the now controversial British writer Rudyard Kipling. Whether it was meant to be a battle cry for women or not, the poem speaks to the strength of women.

You will find that same strength in debut author Maggy Clifton's new novel In Franklin's Chair: Private Conversations as she channels Kipling's "scientific vivisection" by introducing you to Franklin, a multi-married hairdresser surviving in New England and his unnamed client who narrates their visits. As they share details of their lives through private conversations to pass the time, both learn from each other as they try to make sense of the absurdities of life.

Inspired by Langston Hughes' Jesse B. Semple newspaper columns published during the 1950s in The Chicago Defender, Clifton presents vignettes of genuine, humorous, almost Socratic in nature dialog as Franklin and his client share their opinions and life stories on topics ranging from sex and marriage, the good old days and the loss of manners, to keeping the faith and hope for humanity.