Poetry, romance, and murder combine in this historical novel based on the life of Celia Thaxter (1835-1894). A group of islands off the New Hampshire coast is the backdrop for Thaxter's stormy separation from her husband and her granite determination to provide for their backward son by writing. Soon her essays appear alongside Longfellow's in The Atlantic Monthly and her stories are published with Louisa May Alcott's. The famous British author Charles Dickens dreams about Celia, and Harriet Beecher Stowe and Hawthorne visit the young writer at her parents' resort hotel. Enter bachelor poet John Greenleaf Whittier, and at once Celia throws convention to the wind. Unchaperoned, they linger in her bedroom, dawdle at candlelit croquet, and take long moonlit strolls. A double axe murder and the hottest trial of the 19th century turns this captivating story into a real sizzler.
| ||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
Review
(second printing) Several book clubs which go for quality over quivery have picked this one...a present to your brain. -- Marilis Hornidge, The Courier Gazette, Sept. 3, 1998
Older weaves into the narrative lots of local history about the Isles of Shoals as well as national history. Indeed, the pages are filled with notable people. The trial of the murders of two Shoals women, is based on actual trial transcripts, court records and newspaper accounts. A fine piece of historical fiction. -- Connie Burns, Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, February 1995
Several book clubs which go for quality over quivery have picked this one as a book worth study; it's a pleasure on a smoky last-summer early-fall day as a present to your brain. -- Marilis Hornidge,The Courier Gazette , Sept 3, 1998
The pages are filled with notable people. A fine piece of historical fiction. -- Connie Burns, Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, February 1995
Who could resist a combination of beauty, poetry and blood...? This is a real tour de force. -- Marilis Hornidge, The Courier Gazette, Oct. 18, 1994
Who could resist a combination of beauty, poetry and blood, a heroine who was a woman both of and ahead of her time, a place which holds itself apart even today? This is a real tour de force. -- Marilis Hornidge, The Courier Gazette , Oct 18,1994
Older weaves into the narrative lots of local history about the Isles of Shoals as well as national history. Indeed, the pages are filled with notable people. The trial of the murders of two Shoals women, is based on actual trial transcripts, court records and newspaper accounts. A fine piece of historical fiction. -- Connie Burns, Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, February 1995
Several book clubs which go for quality over quivery have picked this one as a book worth study; it's a pleasure on a smoky last-summer early-fall day as a present to your brain. -- Marilis Hornidge,The Courier Gazette , Sept 3, 1998
The pages are filled with notable people. A fine piece of historical fiction. -- Connie Burns, Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, February 1995
Who could resist a combination of beauty, poetry and blood...? This is a real tour de force. -- Marilis Hornidge, The Courier Gazette, Oct. 18, 1994
Who could resist a combination of beauty, poetry and blood, a heroine who was a woman both of and ahead of her time, a place which holds itself apart even today? This is a real tour de force. -- Marilis Hornidge, The Courier Gazette , Oct 18,1994
From the Publisher
Older's novel was featured in Paz Associates Reading Group Choices, 1998 and is receiving widespread attention from book clubs and discussion groups coast to coast. It also is being introduced into high school English and literature classes, along with Older's companion book Celia Thaxter; Selected Writings
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
Celia bounded out of bed, pulled up the window sash, and stuck her head way out. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Louis Wagner, Isles of Shoals, John Whittier, White Island, Star Island, Appledore Island, Eliza Laighton, John Hontvet, Lucy Larcom, Levi Thaxter, The Atlantic Monthly, Celia Laighton, Charles Dickens, Marshall Johnson, Sheriff Philbrick, Celia Thaxter, John Greenleaf Whittier, Judge Barrows, Karen Christensen, Appledore Hotel, Carpenter Ingebretsen, Louis Ludwick, Robert Browning, Thomas Laighton, Henry Longfellow New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Celia bounded out of bed, pulled up the window sash, and stuck her head way out. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Louis Wagner, Isles of Shoals, John Whittier, White Island, Star Island, Appledore Island, Eliza Laighton, John Hontvet, Lucy Larcom, Levi Thaxter, The Atlantic Monthly, Celia Laighton, Charles Dickens, Marshall Johnson, Sheriff Philbrick, Celia Thaxter, John Greenleaf Whittier, Judge Barrows, Karen Christensen, Appledore Hotel, Carpenter Ingebretsen, Louis Ludwick, Robert Browning, Thomas Laighton, Henry Longfellow New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
