A Bit of Earth by Wendy Crisp Lestina
Genre: Currently #26694 on Best Sellers Rank for Biographies & Memoirs
Publisher: Lychgate Press
Publication Date: October, 2016
Submitted by author for review
A Bit of Earth by Wendy Crisp Lestina
Maybe because I’m not, I love stories of strong, independent women. In particular, the ’60s were a time of major upheaval in the standard structure of the home with more women than ever grabbing the car keys and **gasp** heading to work.
Giddy from escaping total nuclear annihilation in the ’50s, the ’60s went the extreme from flower children to the assassinations of our leaders. Increasingly, women no longer had a mandate to stay home, produce babies, cook, clean, and “stand by their men.” And like a number of social activists and feminists, the author discovered she too had to have more than diapers and a garden.
The memoir of Wendy Crisp Lestina, “A Bit of Earth,” is composed of folksy vignettes, some of which originated as columns written through the years, and tells the story of a remarkable list of accomplishments. There are a few times the chronicle lapses into a back-story; something that perhaps is meant to explain the next. This is a woman of intelligence with places to go, people to meet, things to do, and the powerful influence to do it.
The author leads us into a life of discovery and the vistas a woman can forge, independently, by herself. From her humble beginnings in bucolic Ferndale, California, to the glitz and glamour of New York, a commanding social presence with the rich and famous, and public appearances, there were few missed experiences in the spotlight.
Some of the vignettes are related with a sense of humor and twinkle in the eye and some more serious, but all lay bare the lady behind the words. There is always a specific reason for each story; a teachable moment or point of philosophy. I particularly enjoyed in “Family Loans” the definition: “Family loan means, this is yours forever until, or if, I want it back.” (Love it.)
These are the stories lived by one woman, all crammed into one lifetime, that most of us will never experience, but places the reader in enough awe that it keeps you reading.
While a book created of vignettes might not usually have an ending, this one did and wrapped up very neatly both the title and the focus of the book. I could almost identify, since I’ve recently had the return of a painting by my grandfather that he created almost 100 years ago–but that story is coming. I enjoy memoirs and this was no exception. Recommended–as I know you’ll enjoy as well.
Rosepoint rating: Five of five stars
Author description: Wendy Crisp Lestina is a writer and editor living on the Waldner Farm with her husband, where they host Airbnb. Prior to inheriting the farm, Wendy spent more than 30 years living and working in Los Angeles and New York. She was the magazine editor of Datamation and Savvy as well as others, a newspaper columnist, and is the author of several additional books. ©2016 Virginia Williams 
Rosepoint Publishing 