For friends of Rebecca Godfrey, the writer’s final novel is more than just a posthumous stamp on a career that ended too soon – it is another part of her to enjoy after her death.
Stephanie Savage was among those who witnessed Godfrey’s tireless work on “Peggy” first hand during the last decade of her life. When it became clear that Godfrey would not be able to complete the book about heiress Peggy Guggenheim before her death, Godfrey left detailed notes for someone else to do.
“Having ‘Peggy’ come out after her death was a really beautiful gift for those of us who loved her,” said Savage, whose decades-long friendship with Godfrey began at the University of Toronto’s Innis College.
“Peggy’s story is one of genuine exuberance, joy, curiosity and determination, and it is also Rebecca’s story of commitment.”
The book, published Tuesday by Knopf Canada, tells a fictionalized version of Guggenheim’s turbulent life story, in which she fell in love with men, art and life. It traces the first half of her life, from the death of her father on the Titanic in 1912 to the late 1930s, when she was preparing to open a gallery in London.
When Godfrey died of cancer in 2022 at the age of 54, her literary agent asked her friend Leslie Jamison to complete her 300-page manuscript using notes Godfrey had left behind, including some she had dictated to her husband and friends in her final days.
“Working on this book was unlike any creative task I had undertaken before: a posthumous collaboration with Rebecca, realizing her vision as best as I could, completing the tremendous work she had already done, and adding a few of my own words to realize a conception that was entirely her own,” Jamison writes in a note at the end of the book.
When Savage reads “Peggy” today, she says she feels Godfrey on every page.
“Rebecca was also an adventurer, someone who had a little bit of mischief in her and was brave and not afraid to do things that might have consequences. To be able to read this book that combines that part of Rebecca with that part of Peggy is really powerful,” said Savage, a screenwriter and television producer who has worked on “The O.C.” and “Gossip Girl.”
Godfrey is perhaps best known for her 2005 nonfiction book Under the Bridge, which describes the sensational murder of British Columbia teenager Reena Virk, who was beaten by a group of girls in 1997.
That book was made into a TV miniseries that debuted on Disney Plus earlier this year. Godfrey served as executive producer and is portrayed as a morally dubious opportunist whose character serves as a critique of the true crime genre.
Godfrey’s first novel, The Torn Skirt, published in 2005, tells a similarly dark story about teenage girls.
When Godfrey first told Savage about her plans for “Peggy,” Savage said she was thrilled that her friend would write about a joyful subject, about a woman who overcame family tragedy to build a life of beauty.
“When she told me about ‘Peggy,’ all I could think was, ‘That means you’re going to go to Paris, you’re going to go to Venice, you’re going to be in the south of France. You’re going to explore the Titanic and the women’s suffrage movement and New York society in the early 20th century and look at really beautiful art,'” Savage said.
“The process of writing the book would be full of beauty and travel and discovering really good things.”
All of this came true, said Savage, who accompanied Godfrey on a trip to the south of France, where part of the novel is set.
Although she holds on to those memories – and the new ones she built with Godfrey’s loved ones in preparation for the book’s publication – the publication of Peggy also comes with deep sadness.
“One of my favorite things in the world was getting a copy of Rebecca’s book when a new novel or new edition came out. She always wrote a note on the front. And this is the first time I’ve had a book that doesn’t have a note in it,” Savage said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published August 13, 2024.
Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press
