Scott Fitzgerald’s Final Chapter

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald symbolized the Jazz Age and their stories have been beautifully captured through the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald himself. She a famous 1920s flapper and he a rising literary star, they emerged onto the world stage in the early years of the 20th century, but by the late 1930s their reckless and fleeting lifestyle had hit on extremely hard times.

In an evocative and detailed novel by author R. Clifton Spargo, the tumultuous lives of this famous couple are portrayed as never before. Beautiful Fools: The Last Affair of Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald is a sweeping novel that imagines the last chapter in the lives of this extraordinary duo. The book follows Scott and Zelda on their final trip together to Cuba in a last-ditch effort to save their passionate but ill-fated marriage. This glamorous pair—who took New York and the world by storm in the 1920s—by the 1930s had fallen on ill fortune as alcohol, infidelity and mental illness plagued their once seemingly blissful marriage. In Beautiful Fools, Spargo imagines the final voyage, which was the last time the couple ever saw one other. This bittersweet love story is filled with intensity and beauty as it retells the tale of a famous couple on the brink of disaster.

Spargo writes “The HI/LO,” a blog for The Huffington Post. His work has appeared in numerous publications including the Chicago Tribune and The Yale Review. He is a graduate of Yale University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He will speak about writing on social justice issues and read from his book Beautiful Fools on Tuesday, Oct. 8, at 6:30 p.m at Mount Mary College’s Stiemke Memorial Hall, 2900 N. Menomonee River Parkway. The event is free, but space is limited and reservations recommended; email angela@mtmary.edu or call 414-258-4810 (ext. 296) to RSVP.