Lucky by Jane Smiley

 Lucky is Jodie Rattler in Jane Smiley’s latest book of historical fiction coming out April 23. Jodie attributes the beginning of her lucky life to a horse race in St. Louis in 1955 when she was 6 in which she walked away with a roll of two-dollar bills thanks to her uncle. She keeps the roll as a good luck charm throughout her life.

The book becomes a biography of fictional Jodie as she develops an interest in folk music and finds some success as a singer-songwriter. The songs she writes earn her a steady income that her uncle invests wisely, providing a bankroll to land anywhere she wants, whether it is New York City, England, St. Thomas, or Los Angeles. Singing first with a band called the Freak-Outs, she later branches out on her own making albums, performing at gigs, and filling in for singers in other bands.

Along her journey, she becomes familiar with recording studios, backstages, and tours in a time when famous singers like Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and Joni Mitchell are making a name for themselves. She witnesses firsthand how the music is changing from folk music to pop, and she adjusts her style of singing accordingly. Other names like Lyle Lovett are dropped into the story as he invites her on stage to sing a duet with him. Many of the lyrics of the songs she writes are woven into the narrative.

While her musical life is satisfying, Jodie senses that something is missing in her life, and it is not that she never became a big star. Finding true love at an early age, she finds herself leaving it behind and experiences what she thinks of as life as a feminist: being able to conduct her life like men did such as sleeping around, logging 23 affairs by the time she reaches her 30^th birthday.

As the novel draws to a close, a startling turn occurs causing readers to question what they’ve just read but no spoilers here!

Jane Smiley won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for A Thousand Acres, a story based on William Shakespeare's King Lear. Lucky is her 34^th book. Smiley has tackled a variety of topics during her long career, writing about everything from abolitionists to prostitutes, from horse racing to Hollywood, but this reader finds her farm stories to be her very best.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting February 24, 2024.

I would like to thank Alfred A. Knopf and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.