My Mortal Enemy

Myra Henshawe enters memory like a legend: glamorous, quick-witted, and impossible to forget, the woman whose elopement once electrified quiet Parthia, Illinois. Years later, the narrator meets the real Myra and discovers a force of nature—warm, cutting, brilliant, and fiercely alive—whose marriage to Oswald Henshawe is marked by deep affection, teasing intimacy, and hidden strain. Raised in privilege in the grand Driscoll house by her wealthy great-uncle John Driscoll, Myra defies his control to marry Oswald, losing her inheritance but preserving her independence and passion. As the narrator's life widens from Parthia to winter New York, Myra remains the center of a vivid social world filled with artists, opera singers, and cultivated taste. She champions the melancholy young Ewan Gray and his love for Esther Sinclair, sends gifts to Madame Modjeska, and moves effortlessly between elegance and hardship, ambition and generosity. Through Christmas gatherings, Central Park walks, and a haunting New Year's Eve performance, Myra's pride, loyalty, jealousy, and emotional power emerge in full. This richly observed portrait of love, memory, class, and artistic life culminates in a tense domestic confrontation that reveals how much of Myra's brilliance is bound up with pain. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.