During the Jazz Age, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald were at the top. Widely known and sought after, they seemed to have little to worry about. But it wasn't anything like it looked from the outside. Behind closed doors, their love burned a blaze through their home, bringing jealousy and rage with it. Zelda was committed to a Baltimore psychiatric clinic in 1932 for her schizophrenia. She befriends her nurse, Anna Howard, who has her own tragic past to contend with. However, Anna's empathetic ear and caring heart draw her deep into the Fitzgerald's lives. With Zelda's secret memoir, Anna learns much about the mysterious woman. Anna becomes emotionally attached, returning with Zelda to the Fitzgerald's home, and almost loses her own identity in the process.

I have a fascination with the Jazz Age. The flapper dresses, the music, the glamour, the super highs and rock bottom lows, they all excite and entice. The Fitzgeralds go hand in hand with all of the previous mentioned, and are synonymous with this time period. Coming off last year's cinematic experience through "The Great Gatsby", this book allowed me to continue with my curiosity. Author, Erika Robuck, takes a bit of nonfiction and interweaves it with a touching fictional character, Zelda's nurse, Anna Howard.

Anna was almost bigger than Zelda herself, and her character was more relatable. I felt for Zelda, sure, but I really felt for Anna, willingly throwing away her life for the wacky Fitzgerald's. It's funny that the made up character, Anna, felt more real than Zelda did a lot of the time. Her optimism was a little infectious. To be honest, though, some of Robuck's facts of the era were not precise.

I recommend taking CALL ME ZELDA as a work of fiction, lose yourself in the story, and enjoy it. If you go in thinking this will be historically accurate, you will be disappointed. If you're looking for an amusing read about the Fitzgeralds' coupled with an entertaining tale, you've come to the right place.

Book Summary

Everything in the ward seemed different now, and I no longer felt its calming presence. The Fitzgeralds stirred something in me that had been dormant for a long time, and I was not prepared to face it....

From New York to Paris, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald reigned as king and queen of the Jazz Age, seeming to float on champagne bubbles above the mundane cares of the world. But to those who truly knew them, the endless parties were only a distraction from their inner turmoil, and from a love that united them with a scorching intensity.

When Zelda is committed to a Baltimore psychiatric clinic in 1932, vacillating between lucidity and madness in her struggle to forge an identity separate from her husband, the famous writer, she finds a sympathetic friend in her nurse, Anna Howard. Held captive by her own tragic past, Anna is increasingly drawn into the Fitzgeralds’ tumultuous relationship. As she becomes privy to Zelda’s most intimate confessions, written in a secret memoir meant only for her, Anna begins to wonder which Fitzgerald is the true genius. But in taking ever greater emotional risks to save Zelda, Anna may end up paying a far higher price than she intended....

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