Amazon.com: Rowing in Eden (9780684814148): Barbara Rogan: Books

Buy Used
Used - Like New See details
$3.48 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Rowing in Eden
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I'd like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Rowing in Eden [Hardcover]

Barbara Rogan (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)


Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover, Large Print --  
Hardcover, June 19, 1996 --  
Paperback $20.95  
Mass Market Paperback --  
Audio, CD $72.00  

Book Description

June 19, 1996
ROWING IN EDEN Sam is not the only tormented soul in the tiny upstate village of Old Wickham. There's also Peter Quinn, a brilliant, troubled fourteen-year-old with quick fists, no past, and a truckload of attitude. Although a judge found him innocent, Peter knows better. Some things, he figures, "it don't matter why you did 'em, only that you did 'em."

On its surface, Old Wickham, New York, is a Norman Rockwell montage of red-cheeked youngsters skating on ponds, dogs frolicking in the snow, and villagers huddled around wood-burning stoves. Yet someone in this idyllic community has been setting fires. Suspicions divide the village along the usual fault lines. Scapegoats are sought, outsiders shunned. The back room of the country store gives rise to a Greek chorus of collective rage. In this crucible of distrust, unlooked for alliances are forged, old alliances are tested, and no one emerges unchanged.

Alice Hoffman hails Barbara Rogan as a "masterful story teller." The New York Times praises her as a passionate writer whose prose is "as vivid as lightning bolts." Now, with Rowing in Eden, a morally complex story about friendship, love, marriage, and family -- in other words, all the things that matter most -- Barbara Rogan not only fulfills but generously exceeds the expectations of fans and reviewers alike.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Cancer-ravaged Louise Pollak dies wordlessly on the first page of Rogan's fifth book, her demise facilitated by her loving husband, Sam. She is nonetheless heard loud and clear to the last page of this romance-cum-morality tale. Her voice is kept alive by messengers to the Pollaks' farmhouse in the upstate New York town of Old Wickham. The first such messengers to arrive, moments after Lou's death, are gutsy urban transplant Jane Goncalves and Peter, her bristly but appealing 14-year-old foster son. Jane works at the local bookshop, and she has brought a book that Lou had ordered-Emily Dickinson's poems. There Sam finds what he believes to be Lou's parting message. "Rowing in Eden!/ Ah, the Sea!/ Might I but moor/ Tonight in thee!" We feel Sam's hopeless longing, but we know the messenger is also a message from Lou; inevitably, Sam will want to moor in Jane-and his wife would cheer him on. Just as surely, he will have to save a life to pay the karmic debt incurred by killing Lou, no matter that she'd made him promise to do so. Rogan (A Heartbeat Away) delivers action and subplot. Jane has two other foster kids besides Peter; and when arson strikes their home, it's a good bet the blaze is a reflection of how heartily they're unwelcome by the clannish villagers of Old Wickam. Unfortunately, Lou is the one character who really talks; the rest send telegrams. Among the blatant (and stereotyped) messengers: Malachi, the kvetchy mystical defrocked rabbi; Portia, the streetwise black social worker; and Moses the Mutt, who leads Sam to the Promised Land.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The village of Old Wickham becomes less serene as conflicts develop among its diverse inhabitants: carpenter Sam Pollack, who killed his cancer-ravaged wife; feisty Jane Goncalves, who is raising several foster children; Peter, the eldest child, abused and brilliant, who trusts no one; and the village firefighters, battling an arsonist. Rogan's (A Heartbeat Away, LJ 4/1/93) heartwarming tale of guilt, redemption, new beginnings, and burgeoning relationships growing out of disasters makes us marvel at her ability to see so well into the souls of her troubled characters. Highly recommended.?Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 19, 1996)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0684814145
  • ISBN-13: 978-0684814148
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,283,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author


Apart from short stints as a horse wrangler and park ranger, Barbara Rogan has spent her entire career in the publishing industry: as an editor, a literary agent, a writer and a teacher. After graduating with a degree in liberal arts from St. John's College, she went to work as a copy editor with a major New York publishing house. Within a year, she fulfilled a long-held intention by moving to Israel, where she became the English-language editor of a Tel Aviv publishing house. Shortly thereafter, she launched the Barbara Rogan Literary Agency to represent American and European publishers and agents for the sale of Hebrew rights. Among the thousands of writers she represented were Nadine Gordimer, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Abba Eban, Irwin Shaw, John LeCarre, and her childhood favorite, Madeleine L'Engle. At the age of 26, she was appointed to the board of directors of the Jerusalem Book Fair, the youngest director ever to serve on the board. During this period her first novel, CHANGING STATES, was published simultaneously in England, the U.S., and Israel.

For several years Barbara continued to write and run the agency, but eventually felt compelled to choose between her two occupations. She loved the agency she'd founded and the exciting life that went with it, but writing was her passion. Making a radical break, she sold the agency and returned to New York. Since then she has produced seven more novels, including Hindsight, Suspicion, and Rowing in Eden. Her publishers include Simon & Schuster, Morrow, and Doubleday, and her fiction has been translated widely and graciously reviewed. About SUSPICION, The Washington Post wrote, "If you can put this book down before you've finished it, it's possible that your heart may have stopped beating." "What Bonfire of the Vanities tried to be," Library Journal wrote of SAVING GRACE; and CAFÉ NEVO was called "unforgettable" by the San Francisco Chronicle and "an inspired, passionate work of fiction, a near-magical novel" by Kirkus Review. Barbara also co-authored two non-fiction books, published by Crown and Harcourt Brace, and contributed essays to several published anthologies. To read more about Barbara's work, visit her website: www.barbararogan.com; and don't forget to sample the coffee in the Writers' Lounge.

Barbara taught fiction writing at Hofstra University and SUNY Farmingdale for several years before trading her brick-and-mortar classroom for a virtual one. Her online courses and editing services are described on her teaching website, www.nextlevelworkshop.com. As a professional whose experience spans all aspects of publishing, Barbara is a frequent presenter at writers' conferences, seminars, and retreats. She is currently working on a new novel and a non-fiction book on revising one's own fiction.



 

Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
5 star:
 (1)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving Tale, July 8, 2004
By 
Melissa McCauley (North Little Rock, AR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Rowing in Eden (Hardcover)
Barbara Rogan paints an incisive portrait of life in small-town America, definitely not Norman Rockwell. Here are murderers, bigots, small-minded busybodies. Jane Goncalves and her foster children left the big city to escape these things, but find themselves embroiled in controversy and strife. Sam Rockwell exists in a shadowy purgatory of grief after losing his beloved wife to cancer. Sam and Jane come together in the face of adversity and form a deep bond, showing that the best families aren't necessarily related by blood.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A moving story of unlikely bonds formed by tragic events., January 5, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: Rowing in Eden (Hardcover)
Rowing in Eden is an insightful look at small town americana
in the 1990's and of the darkness that lurks beneath the
the post card exterior of the seemingly ideal town of
Old Wickham. While parts of the story are predictable and
the villains are, at times, somewhat one dimensional, what
separates this story from others of its type are Rogan's rich
drawings of the three main characters and the separate tragedies
that unite them. Rowing in Eden is solemn, haunting, and yet a
strangely uplifting story about love and hate, death and living,
fear of the unknown, and bonds that form in adversity.Rowing
in Eden is not a triumph of the human spirit spirit, but
rather a testament to its perseverance. I strongly recommend
this book to fans of slice-of-life fiction.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Only search this product's reviews



Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 

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

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   


Listmania!


Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:








i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...