The first label that I wrote is almost at the very end of the book – at that point she’s 91 years old – which is a very speech-writery thing to do. I was a speech-writer at the Met for eight years and you very often are writing to an ending. There were times in which words, like the definition of ‘garniture’ at the very beginning of the book, seemed so well-suited for a woman who I was referring to in terms of porcelain and her social group. Then other times I found myself looking back at old Met guidebooks. I would almost go shopping for words. I would find some great entry for a medieval chalice that would drive my thinking about how a label could work. So it worked both ways: the language supported the idea, but the idea was really fueled by the language.
― Christine Coulson, Interview, Apollo Magazine
What booksellers are saying about One Woman Show
- This book is so creative and thoughtful — it is told entirely through museum wall labels! It’s totally intriguing and allows the author (who used to write wall labels for the Metropolitan Museum of Art) to play with ideas about womanhood and identity in a time when women were still most often viewed as men’s property. I love books set in museums and this was a very fun twist on that concept.
― Kate Storhoff from Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina | Buy from Bookmarks
- A brilliant twist of a novel. Sparest of prose, driest of wit. One woman and the people in her gilded world winnowed down to a series of museum labels and occasional eavesdropped conversations. With layers of meaning in the words and spaces, this is a reader’s delight.
― Jan Blodgett from Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina | Buy from Main Street Books
- So clever and poignant! I read this book in one sitting. Telling a story through exhibit descriptions was so smart and captivating. Learning about Kitty’s life and what is to be a woman of a particular socio-economic class, during a certain time period in this country was a read I didn’t know I wanted. But once I started reading, I couldn’t put the book down. Excellent read!
― Kim Brock from Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Kentucky | Buy from Joseph-Beth Booksellers
- Loved this one. Spare prose gives room for the reader to fill in the life of Kitty – a very particular sort of woman existing in very particular times. Sparks of humor and tragedy that hits all the harder for being described in such a brief, matter-of-fact way. Reads like Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo as written by Olga Ravn.
― Ellen Woodall, Blacksburg Books, Blacksburg, Virginia | Buy from Blacksburg Books
About Christine Coulson
Christine Coulson spent twenty-five years writing for The Metropolitan Museum of Art and left the Museum as Senior Writer in 2019. Her debut novel, Metropolitan Stories, was a national bestseller and is followed by One Woman Show.
