The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures

“The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt is a literary bottle rocket—loaded with whimsy, pizzazz, and heart.”
—Adriana Trigiani

“Is it possible that I have just read/experienced/devoured the most delightful book ever published? Do not argue with me: There is magic here and genius.”
—Elinor Lipman

“A ripping yarn of emancipated girlish adventure.”
—Audrey Niffenegger

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt is a visually stunning, totally unique, full-color novel in the form of a scrapbook, set in the burgeoning bohemian culture of the 1920s and featuring an endearing, unforgettable heroine. Caroline Preston, author of the New York Times Notable Book Jackie by Josie, uses a kaleidoscopic array of vintage memorabilia—postcards, letters, magazine ads, ticket stubs, catalog pages, fabric swatches, candy wrappers, fashion spreads, menus and more—to tell the tale of spirited and ambitious Frankie’s remarkable odyssey from Vassar to Greenwich Village to Paris, in a manner that will delight crafters, historical fiction fans, and anyone who loves a good coming-of-age story ingeniously told.

For her graduation from high school in 1920, Frankie Pratt receives a scrapbook and her father’s old Corona typewriter. Despite Frankie’s dreams of becoming a writer, she must forgo a college scholarship to help her widowed mother. But when a mysterious Captain James sweeps her off her feet, her mother finds a way to protect Frankie from the less-than-noble intentions of her unsuitable beau.

Through a kaleidoscopic array of vintage postcards, letters, magazine ads, ticket stubs, catalog pages, fabric swatches, candy wrappers, fashion spreads, menus, and more, we meet and follow Frankie on her journey in search of success and love. Once at Vassar, Frankie crosses paths with intellectuals and writers, among them “Vincent” (alumna Edna St. Vincent Millay), who encourages Frankie to move to Greenwich Village and pursue her writing. When heartbreak finds her in New York, she sets off for Paris aboard the S.S. Mauritania, where she keeps company with two exiled Russian princes and a “spinster adventuress” who is paying her way across the Atlantic with her unused trousseau. In Paris, Frankie takes a garret apartment above Shakespeare & Company, the hub of expat life, only to have a certain ne’er-do-well captain from her past reappear. But when a family crisis compels Frankie to return to her small New England hometown, she finds exactly what she had been looking for all along.

Author of the New York Times Notable Book Jackie by Josie, Caroline Preston pulls from her extraordinary collection of vintage ephemera to create the first-ever scrapbook novel, transporting us back to the vibrant, burgeoning bohemian culture of the 1920s and introducing us to an unforgettable heroine, the spirited, ambitious, and lovely Frankie Pratt.

“Literal, literary and lovely....Preston’s book is a visual journey unlike any other novel out there right now....Can be devoured in the course of a pot of tea on a cold day [but] pick [it] up the next day just to look at the images.” - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt is a delight to read, the juxtaposition of period advertisements, report cards, and other memorabilia demonstrating the highs and lows of the 1920s. For Frankie, opportunity seems limitless, but it’s also inhibited by social mores, class boundaries, and the rules of romance. Nonetheless, far from being restricted, she soars, and it’s a pleasure to succumb to this confection and enjoy Preston’s literary collage.” - Macleans magazine

“Preston lets the pictures tell the story…She has a curator’s eye for interesting artifacts, which is unsurprising given her professional background as an archivist…The combination of Frankie’s pluck and spirit, the much-beloved time period of the Roaring Twenties, and the colorful presentation made this a surprisingly enjoyable combination of art and narrative.” - Historical Novels magazine

“A delight for readers of gentle historical romances, but also for crafters and those interested in the popular culture of the Roaring Twenties.” - Booklist

“The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt” is a retro delight. Meticulously assembled and designed by the author from her own huge collection of memorabilia, it turns scrapbooking into a literary art form. Fans of the Roaring ’20s, Nick Bantock and modernism will all find something of value in Preston’s nostalgic ephemera.” - Washington Post

“The epistolary novel is ages old, the Twitter novel à la mode, but...The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt—to my knowledge—is the first scrapbook novel....[A] charming and transporting story, a collage of vintage memorabilia...and other ephemera depicts the adventures of an aspiring flapper-era writer.” - VanityFair.com

“An American (flapper) in Paris: Le Dôme café, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and l’amour all show up in scrapbook form in this novel.” - AARP.org

“The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston is for those who love history, strong young women, and unusual story-telling.” - Examiner.com

“Impossible to crack open the book without wanting to devour it… a tale of the Roaring ‘20s illustrated in the dazzling language of trinkets and baubles… the kind of visual candy that coffee tables were designed to showcase.” - NPR.org

“Every coat button, baseball card, or gramophone record seems to conduct electricity…. As a reader, you are enchanted with Frankie Pratt’s life…because her life-so carefully constructed and so elegantly detailed-is not so different from our own.” - DoubleX

“Somehow, Preston manages to make this scene feel fresh--partly because [this] really is a scrapbook, each page composed of artifacts: advertisements, yearbook photos, ticket stubs, menus from the automat, and paper dolls modeling their finest… its vintage graphics and sweet, sincere storytelling make it a pure pleasure.” - Boston Globe

“In her whimsical mash-up of historical fiction and scrapbooking, Caroline Preston uses vintage images and artifacts, paper ephemera and flapper-era souvenirs.... Apparently no junk shop or eBay seller was spared in Preston’s search for ways to bring her fictional heroine to life.” - O, The Oprah Magazine, Lead Review

“Page through this book and get inspired to illustrate a story of your own.” - Grand Rapids Press

“In THE SCRAPBOOK OF FRANKIE PRATT, Caroline Preston, a former archivist, pastes vintage postcards, Jazz Age ephemera and typewritten snippets into a sweetly beguiling novel about a New England girl who trades Vassar College for Greenwich Village on the advice of Edna St. Vincent Millay.” - New York Times Magazine

“The vintage scrapbook is an effective vehicle for an entertaining coming-of-age story steeped in the pop culture of the Roaring Twenties. A highly enjoyable read well suited to historical romance fans and scrapbookers alike.” - Library Journal

“What an amazing, creative, funny, thoughtful dip into the life and times of the inimitable Frankie. I know I’ll come back to Preston’s wonderful creation time and again; for its color, warmth and whimsy. It’s a very, very clever novel.” - Jacqueline Winspear

“In handsome, full-color pages, the memorabilia tell the story of Frankie, an aspiring writer who leaves her poor New England family to travel to Vassar, then to New York, then to Paris, where she becomes tangled in a romance with an older publisher with ties to her past. . . . . a nifty armchair tour of postwar literary culture.” - Publishers Weekly

“Selecting from her own collection of period mementos, Preston (Gatsby’s Girl, 2006, etc.) creates a literal scrapbook for a young New Hampshire woman coming of age in the 1920s. . . . .Lighter than lightweight but undeniably fun, largely because Preston is having so much fun herself.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“I’ve been enjoying Caroline Preston’s ingenious THE SCRAPBOOK OF FRANKIE PRATT, a novel made up entirely of vintage images. It’s nifty and fun—[and] the plot moves along, too!” - The Paris Review (blog)

“THE SCRAPBOOK OF FRANKIE PRATT is a literary bottle rocket—loaded with whimsy, pizzazz and heart. The illustrations are compelling and original, and the prose is perfection in the hands of Caroline Preston. Like any beloved scrapbook, you will return to this one again and again to find new details among old treasures. I heartily recommend.” - Adriana Trigiani

“A literary bottle rocket—loaded with whimsy, pizzazz and heart. The illustrations are compelling and original, and the prose is perfection in the hands of Caroline Preston.... I heartily recommend.” - Adriana Trigiani

“Is it possible that I have just read/experienced/devoured the most delightful book ever published? Do not argue with me: There is magic here and genius. I marveled at every page: at first, just the astonishing collection of souvenirs and memorabilia and then the story—so wry and smart and literary and historically fascinating.” - Elinor Lipman

“No sooner had I finished reading - marveling over, actually - Caroline Preston’s, “The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt,” than I wanted to start all over again! What an amazing, creative, funny, thoughtful dip into the life and times of the inimitable Frankie. I know I’ll come back to Preston’s wonderful creation time and again; for its color, warmth and whimsy. It’s a very, very clever novel.” - Jacqueline Winspear

“Charmingly and refreshingly unperverse . . . I cam away enchanted.” - Los Angeles Times

“The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt is quite funny and strangely authentic—it’s like reading your favorite flapper great-aunt’s diary. It’s a ripping yarn of emancipated girlish adventure.” - Audrey Niffenegger

“THE SCRAPBOOK OF FRANKIE PRATT is like reading your favorite flapper great-aunt’s diary. It’s a ripping yarn of emancipated girlish adventure.” - Audrey Niffenegger

“[H]ave I just read/experienced/devoured the most delightful book ever published? ....There is magic here and genius. I marveled at every page: at first, just the astonishing collection of souvenirs and memorabilia and then the story—so wry and smart and literary and historically fascinating.” - Elinor Lipman