Whistled Like a Bird: The Untold Story of Dorothy Putnam, George Putnam, and Amelia Earhart
Chapman has always been fascinated by her family history, particularly her paternal grandparents' complicated relationships with Amelia Earhart, so she was deeply moved when her grandmother, Dorothy Binney Putnam, gave her 10 diaries chronicling the years 1907 through 1961. During those exciting and emotionally exhausting decades, Dorothy--an accomplished musician, a society figure, an outdoorswoman and traveler, and an "incurable romantic" --graduated from Wellesley, married George Putnam of the distinguished publishing dynasty, had children, befriended Earhart at the dawn of her fame, and then watched the aviatrix not only attain near-goddess status but also steal her husband. Dorothy's side of this once-notorious love triangle has never been well understood, and Chapman's amazement over what she discovered in her grandmother's succinct but revealing diary entries adds great poignancy to a love story that would be compelling even if it were written as blandly as a shopping list. Putnam was a total workaholic, and long before Earhart entered the picture, Dorothy's frustration over the vapidity of her high-society duties and the bloodlessness of her marriage had led to an ardent affair with a younger man and thoughts of divorce. Chapman's sensitive and proud portrait of her passionate grandmother offers fresh takes on Earhart, Putnam, and the eternal mystery of love.Donna Seaman