Kinds of Love [Paperback]

May Sarton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 17, 1994

Friendship, marriage, and intertwined lives in a small New Hampshire town.

Christina Chapman and her husband Cornelius, both past seventy, are "summer people"—people who come to rural New England for the summer months and go home to the city when the cold weather comes. This year, however, Christina and Cornelius have decided to stay on.

May Sarton's Willard is a small town in the rocky hills of New Hampshire, a place that attracts "the untameable, the wild, the gentle." As Sarton takes us into the lives of the people who live there, we encounter a rich tapestry of characters and relationships. In the center are the deep, prickly friendship between Christina, an old Bostonian, and Ellen, the daughter of a farmer, and the unfolding process by which Christina and her husband "come into their own" in their marriage and become winter people at last.

Editorial Reviews

Review

We watch with fascination as Miss Sarton builds her huge portrait. . . . With complete success, [Sarton] portrays Williard under a double spell—first the spell cast by the spectacular winter weather, and second, the spell of Christina's longing, a longing that never tires and that continues to hold her story in tension long after the ice and snow are gone and forgotten. (The New Yorker )

About the Author

May Sarton (1912-1995) was an acclaimed poet, novelist, and memoirist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (February 17, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393311015
• ISBN-13: 978-0393311013
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #633,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

May Sarton is the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 - July 16, 1995), an American poet, novelist, and memoirist. Her parents were science historian George Sarton and his wife, the English artist Mabel Eleanor Elwes. In 1915, her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. She went to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started theatre lessons in her late teens. In 1945 she met her partner for the next thirteen years, Judy Matlack, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They separated in 1956, when Sarton's father died and Sarton moved to Nelson, New Hampshire. Honey in the Hive (1988) is about their relationship. Sarton later moved to York, Maine. She died of breast cancer on July 16, 1995. She is buried in Nelson, New Hampshire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Journey of self-discovery, February 17, 2006

By 

Bomojaz (South Central PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinds of Love (Paperback)

Charming and poignant story about an elderly couple, Cornelius and Christina Chapman, who have spent many "summer vacations" in the small town of Willard, New Hampshire, who now decide to stay full-time. Christina becomes close friends with a local woman, Ellen, and much of the novel is about their developing friendship (it's a rocky relationship, much like the terrain in which the book is set). Interspaced with the developing story are journal entries kept by Christina in which she steps back and evaluates situations occurring with Ellen, her husband, her family, and the world of Willard. Sarton is an excellent nature writer and her descriptions of rural Willard throughout the different seasons are excellent. Christina feels at the end of the book that by living permanently in Willard "I am close to my real feeling now," and that she and Cornelius have come into their own. A very appealing and uplifting story.