Sundress Reads: Review of Foundations

Abigail Stewart’s female characters in Foundations (Whisk(e)y Tit, 2023) experience transmutations of both their circumstances and of themselves. For example, Bunny regains her agency by becoming an active player in her own life; reading each page of her story was incredibly empowering. This female-driven narrative feels similar to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in that the central house passes from woman to woman, with each character leaving a piece of herself there. In the words of American philanthropist Melinda Gates: “A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult.” The neighborhood around the house, and societal expectations, change with time, too. The events that take place— grief, a floundering career, and a misguided relationship—make each woman’s life accessible to readers. As the novel progresses, the house begins to cultivate its own mythology, mentioned particularly in Jessica and Amanda’s sections.

Stewart immerses her readers in scene description. Lavish images of the interior of the house repeat themselves, reappearing at various points throughout the novel. Purple, for example, is a favored color for both Bunny and Jessica. The shade lilac is repeated in the first two stories, once with Bunny’s “diaphanous lilac nightdress” and later with Jessica’s “lilac bedspread” (Stewart 20 & 68). The way Stewart fosters connections simply transcends time and space as the novel progresses; her repetition of color further fosters the bonds between the women who reside in the house, even if briefly. It feels as if Stewart is asserting that each of these characters is the arbiter of their fate and that life comes from them, rather than happening to them. This is something I try to live by myself, and it is no easy task.

Beyond the physical characteristics, Stewart crafts her characters to stand out through their thoughts and actions. For instance, three women interact with the central house in different ways: Jessica describes her purchase of the house as a palace of regret (68), Bunny leaves it “locked up and dark, preserved like a museum” (55), while Amanda views this place as an escape from her life. Such variety speaks not only to the individual women but perhaps also to their generations. Women in Bunny’s time were not even allowed a bank account that did not have a male signature on it, while in comparison Jessica experiences the female age discrimination that Hollywood is built on. Contrasting with the past, Amanda’s view of the house as an escape is representative of increased freedoms women now have (and that some might even take for granted).

When readers see the women enter (or in Bunny’s case, leave) the house, they seem to be conflicted about the purpose of their lives. Bunny had a maternal desire like no other, yet she was infertile; Jessica was an aged starlet who remained un-booked; Amanda’s life was an awry ship with no captain. The house, for better or for worse, imbued each of the women with a purpose, and in turn, facilitated the transmutation of each woman to their higher self. Each woman is rewarded with what she needs: an escape, a new career venture, or a place to call home. The house is in turn rewarded for all that it provides. It has someone who loves it the way it needs to be cared for. In the process of loving herself more, Amanda comes in and, at the advice of Sienna, “the best energy healer in the Dallas Fort Worth metro area,” manifests her dreams and intentions for the space.

In short, Abigail Stewart’s Foundations is an empowering, female-driven narrative that
seeks to reaffirm a woman’s right to agency and the importance of having a home in which you feel comfortable.

Foundations is available for purchase from Whisk(e)y Tit

Maggie Diedrich is a 23-year-old woman who is a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s English program. She values good food, a warm hearth, and all the comforts of home with her two cats. She is planning to pursue a second bachelor’s and possibly enter the graduate field of academia.