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THE FICTIONAL TEXT CENTRAL TO THIS CHAPTER is the 1951 novel The Grotto by Grace Zaring Stone.1 Since she is largely unknown today, I begin with a brief biographical sketch of the author.2 Stone was born in New York City on January 9, 1891. Up until the 1940s, she led a cosmopolitan life, studying music and dance in Paris, working for the British Red Cross during World War I, and living in Australia, China, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, the Virgin Islands, Washington DC, and the West Indies. After World War II, she and her husband, by then a retired naval officer, settled in New York City during the winters and Stonington, Connecticut, during the summers. Stone published her first novel, Letters to a Djinn, in 1922, followed by The Heaven and Earth of Dona Elena (1929), The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1930), The Almond Tree (1931), and The Cold Journey (1934). In 1939, the bestseller Escape, set in pre– World War II Nazi Germany, appeared under the pseudonym of Ethel Vance in order to protect Stone’s daughter who was living in occupied Czechoslovakia at the time. Because of the success of Escape, Stone used the pseudonym for three more titles—Reprisal (1942), Winter Meeting (1946), and The Secret Thread (1949)—before publishing The Grotto under her own name again. During the 1930s and 1940s, Stone appears to have been a relatively successful commercial author: after Escape, her pseudonym carried some clout; three of her novels were adapted to the big screen (The Bitter Tea of General Yen, Escape, and Winter Meeting), while The Secret Thread was made into a television show; and the fairly regular publication rhythm of about one novel every three years indicates a steady reputation with publishers. After The Grotto, however, the pace slowed down significantly, which seems to have coincided with the move to New York City and Stonington. Only two more novels appeared: Althea in 1962 and Dear Deadly Cara in 1968. Stone died in Mystic, Connecticut, on September 29, 1991.3 |
