The Engagements

by J. Courtney Sullivan

Acknowledgments

  I must start by thanking two incredible women whom I am fortunate to have in my life: My editor, Jenny Jackson, and my agent, Brettne Bloom. Both read several versions of this book with the kind of insight and generosity that is the stuff of writers’ dreams.

  I set out to write a novel about worlds unknown to me—the world of paramedics, the world of classical music, the world of advertising in the nineteen forties, and so on. To get them right, I conducted dozens of interviews. Throughout the process, I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the many people who were kind enough to share their stories and expertise.

  The relationship between De Beers and N. W. Ayer and Son made its way into this book after I read a remarkable 1982 Atlantic Monthly article by Edward Jay Epstein, entitled, “Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?”

  I first heard the name Frances Gerety in Tom Zoellner’s brilliant book The Heartless Stone. Tom was generous with his time and knowledge. Portions of his book also informed the story of the work Kate and her colleagues do on African diamond mines and the Kimberley Process.

  Many people helped me create a portrait of Frances Gerety. I am grateful to her former Ayer coworkers who shared their recollections of both the woman and the agency. Thank you to Howard and Hana Davis, Deanne Dunning, Peter Elder, Jeff Odiorne, Margaret Sanders, Tricia Kenney, and Mary Lou Quinlan. And to Ted Regan and Chet Harrington, who invited me to Merion Golf Club so I could see where Frances spent so much of her free time. Wherever possible, I used the real names of Ayer employees, with their permission.

  Some of Frances’s words here came from an interview she did with Howard Davis. A recording and transcript of this interview are available at the Smithsonian Institution, along with other official documents about Ayer and De Beers, and full color copies of every De Beers ad from 1938 onward. The Dorothy Dignam Collection at the Schlesinger Library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study was full of fascinating personal and professional information, including the original copies of Dorothy’s daily questions from men, all her letters home, and articles she wrote under the byline “Diamond Dot Dignam.” The book The History of an Advertising Agency by Ralph Hower and the DVD, Celebrating 50 Years of Ayer & De Beers, created by Robert and Deanne Dunning for the 1988 London celebration, provided further illumination.

  Phil Trachtman gave me background on Frances Gerety’s time at the Charles Morris Price School. And Richard DiNatale helped me figure out how to gain access to vital records when I got stuck.

  Just as I was completing the final draft, a gift fell into my lap, courtesy of Susan Christoffersen, who bought Frances Gerety’s home in Wayne when she moved out. For two years, I had searched for the annual reports and memorandums that Ayer created for De Beers. If only I had thought to look in Susan’s garage sooner! This lucky discovery enhanced the story at the last minute, and I will be forever grateful. Susan also provided me with Frances’s family photographs and a tour of her house. Leslie Post, Frances’s longtime next-door neighbor, joined us for tea and cookies, and shared her memories too.

  I am indebted to the great violin soloist Anne Akiko Meyers, who spent so much of her precious time answering my questions. Her beautiful music served as a daily inspiration while I wrote.

  When it came to writing about paramedics, I had the help of several experts. Thank you to Chris Kerley and everyone at Pro EMS in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for welcoming me in and teaching me about how you train. To Adam Shanahan and Nick Navarrett, for letting me ride along. To Sara Stankiewicz Pitman, Linda Stankiewicz, and Justin Pitman for pointing me in the right direction, and providing lots of important information along the way. And thanks especially to Will Tollefsen and Bill Mergendahl, who saved me from myself more times than I’d like to admit.

  The former mayor of Cambridge, Michael Sullivan; chief of the Cambridge Fire Department, Gerry Reardon; and Cambridge city manager, Robert Healy taught me a lot about the way their city has changed over the years. Richie Sullivan gave me additional details about one-way streets and the roast beef special at Elsie’s.

  I received insight into the lives of French women in Paris and New York from my French editor, Marie Barbier, as well as Sandrine Cullinane, Pascale and Ludovic Blachez, Nina Sovich, and Marie Delecourt, whose blog Paris in New York, was also a terrific resource. Brad New-field, a guide for a company called Paris Walks, spent many hours with me, covering the city on foot, and helping me create Delphine’s personal history—from the exact location of her childhood home in Montmartre, to Henri’s inherited apartment, to the Jeu de Paume. After I returned to New York, I found that I had more questions, and Brad answered them all.

  Thank you to David and Brenda Troy for the wisdom about Boston, to Charlie McCarthy for the lesson in Quincy geography, and to Delia Cabe, who so generously went to the Belmont Historical Society on my behalf.

  Maggie Mertens, researcher extraordinaire, took the assignment “Do research on each decade starting in 1910” and ran with it, rather than running away. A hundred years’ worth of handpicked newspaper articles helped me create the lives of every character.

  Marriage, a History, by Stephanie Coontz taught me a great deal about the institution and how it has changed through the centuries. And the 1970 PTA pamphlet “How to Tell if Your Child Is a Potential Hippie and What You Can Do About It” by Jacqueline Himelstein was a welcome addition to Evelyn’s story.

  To my second batch of early readers, who each improved the book in ways big and small, thank you to Kevin Johannesen, Hilary Black, Jennifer Kurdyla, and my parents, Joyce and Eugene Sullivan.

  I am grateful to Kathryn Beaumont Murphy and Ike Williams for all the guidance, to Dana Murphy for the research assistance, to Danny Baror and Heather Baror-Shapiro for bringing The Engagements to countries around the world, to Josie Freedman at ICM for handling the film rights, and to everyone at Knopf and Vintage, especially Abby Weintraub, Sara Eagle, Kate Runde, Alex Houstoun, Jenna Meulemans, Maria Massey, and Andrea Robinson.

  Finally, thank you to my officemate, Landon Sullivan Johannesen, who curls up under my desk each day, and never protests when I read lousy drafts aloud.

  A Note About the Author

  J. Courtney Sullivan is the author of the New York Times best-selling novels Commencement and Maine. Maine was named a Best Book of the Year by Time magazine and a Washington Post Notable Book for 2011. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Glamour, Allure, Real Simple, and New York magazine, among others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

  Other titles by J. Courtney Sullivan available in eBook format

  Commencement 978-0-307-27198-3

  Maine 978-0-307-59681-9

  Visit: jcourtneysullivan.com

  Like: https://www.facebook.com/jcourtneysullivan

  Follow: @jcourtsull

  For more information, please visit www.aaknopf.com

  The Engagements

  By J. Courtney Sullivan

  Reading Group Guide

  ABOUT THIS READING GROUP GUIDE

  The questions, discussion topics, and reading list that follow are intended to enhance your reading group’s discussion of The Engagements, a gorgeous, sprawling novel about marriage from the New York Times best-selling author of Commencement and Maine.

  ABOUT THE BOOK

  Relationships have as many facets as a diamond. There are those who marry in a white heat of passion, those who marry for partnership and comfort, and those who live together, love each other, and have absolutely no intention of ruining it all with a wedding.

  Evelyn has been married to her husband for forty years—forty years since he slipped off her first wedding ring and put his own in its place. Delphine has seen both sides of love—the ecstatic, glorious highs of seduction and the bitter, spiteful fury that descends when it’s over. James, a paramedic who works the night shift, knows his wife’s family thinks she could have done better; while Kate, partnered with Dan for a decade, has seen every
kind of wedding—beach weddings, backyard weddings, castle weddings—and has vowed never, ever, to have one of her own.

  As these lives and marriages unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: “A Diamond Is Forever.” And that line changes everything.

  A rich, layered, exhilarating novel spanning nearly a hundred years, The Engagements captures four wholly unique marriages, while tracing the story of diamonds in America and the way—for better or for worse—these glittering stones have come to symbolize our deepest hopes for everlasting love.

  QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

  1. The Engagements’s epigraph refers to diamonds as “nothing more than an empty cage for our dreams—blank surfaces upon which the shifting desires of the heart could be written.” What does this tell us about the novel we’re about to discuss?

  2. Feminism and the role of women is a recurring theme in The Engagements. Which character’s attitude did you relate to the most, and why?

  3. Two of the novel’s major characters are anti-marriage, with story lines that are decades apart. How does time change society’s attitude toward intentionally unmarried women?

  4. On this page, Evelyn thinks, “Men made mistakes and when they asked forgiveness, women forgave. It happened every day.” Does this prove true throughout the novel, with other characters?

  5. Did you know that Frances Gerety was a real person? How does that change your feelings about the character?

  6. Why do you think Frances is the only character whose story moves through time?

  7. On this page, in a section set in 1972, Evelyn thinks, “Since she and Gerald were young, what it meant to be an American had changed. There was so much emphasis on the self now—self over country, self over family, self over all else. Her son was a shining example of the consequences.” How does this play out in more contemporary sections of the novel and with other story lines?

  8. While the novel is clearly about marriage, parental relationships also play a major role. Discuss and compare the parenting styles of Evelyn, James, and Kate.

  9. How does Delphine’s bond with her late father influence her romantic life?

  10. In the novel, a Stradivarius violin and a diamond ring are each cherished heirlooms. Which do you think has more value? Which does the author value more?

  11. What did you think about Delphine’s reaction to P.J.’s betrayal?

  12. On this page, Meg says to Frances, “Sometimes it just feels like we can’t tell what we’ve given up until it’s too late.” What other characters could have uttered that line?

  13. Sullivan paints Kate as principled yet judgmental. Does Sullivan want us to like her?

  14. On this page, May says to Kate, “It’s very rare to find anyone who’s absolutely certain that she chose the right ring.” What metaphor is at work here?

  15. Late in the novel, on this page, Gerald says to Evelyn, “No one has the right to comment on the way anyone else falls in love.” He says that in 1972. How does it apply in other decades?

  16. What did you think when you learned how James was connected to the other stories?

  17. What point do you think Sullivan is making about the ethics of diamonds? Did reading this novel change your feelings about them?

  18. Which story line did you enjoy the most? Whose story would you like to keep reading?

  SUGGESTED READING

  Tapestry of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg; Later, at the Bar by Rebecca Barry; The Hours by Michael Cunningham; Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell; Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close; The Heartless Stone by Tom Zoellner.

  ALSO BY J. COURTNEY SULLIVAN

  Maine

  Commencement