Switching from Mysteries to Historical Fiction: A Guest Post by Glen Ebisch, and a Giveaway

Emerson and Thoreau! I studied their work in school, did you? When I think about Ralph Waldo Emerson and  Henry David Thoreau, I think about nature, about truth, about freedom.  I looked at one of my bookshelves and quickly spotted the Emerson and Thoreau books from my college days, next to each other.  I'm glad I still have these books.

"The sky is the daily bread of the eyes."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The world is but a canvas to our imagination."
~ Henry David Thoreau

The premise of the new historical novel, Dearest David, by author Glen Ebisch, published in 2018, is fascinating to me.  It's the story of a young woman, Abigail Taylor, who leaves her family farm outside of Concord, Massachusetts, to work as a servant in the home of lecturer Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American essayist, philosopher, poet, and leader of the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century.  Abigail also meets Henry David Thoreau, who was also an essayist, philosopher, poet, and leading transcendentalist.  Since I haven't read the book yet, more details are in the synopsis from the publisher, Solstice, below.

Seventeen-year-old Abigail only spends a few months during the year 1841 as a kitchen maid and part-time nanny to the Emerson children, but she experiences life in the Emerson household at the peak of both its intellectual and emotional intensity.  She falls in love with the free-spirited but emotionally ambivalent Henry David Thoreau and learns that she must share her fascination with him with both Emerson’s wife, the prophetic and frightening Lidian, and the children’s governess, Ms. Ford. She also meets the charismatic radical journalist, Margaret Fuller. And she learns to respect but also to recognize the limitations of Emerson himself. Eventually, Abigail is forced to leave her employment in the Emerson household, but only after realizing the magical nature of her time in this special place, where discussions about the principles of self-reliance, feminism, and abolitionism flourished.

In this exclusive guest post, New England mystery author Glen Ebisch talks about why he chose to write historical fiction about Emerson and Thoreau.  I think you'll find his pithy post intriguing!

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Switching from Mysteries to Historical Fiction
 A Guest Post by Glen Ebisch, and a Giveaway

                                      

What motivates someone to switch from writing mysteries to deciding to write a work of historical fiction? In my case it came about because, as a philosopher in my day job, I became interested in the philosophical ideas of Bronson Alcott, the father of Louisa May. This led me to do research on that period in Concord, Massachusetts, which was an interesting one, with Emerson, Thoreau, and at times Hawthorne, living in the area and frequently socializing. It seemed to me to be an historical period just ripe for a story.

By whatever means these things happen, I came up with the idea of placing a young woman of humble means but with a good basic education in the Emerson household as a servant. I thought it would be valuable to have a young woman’s insight into what was largely a man’s world, while at the same time contrasting her with the very different figures of Lidian Emerson and Margaret Fuller. It also gave me the opportunity to discuss the early growth of the feminist movement, which was developing at that time in the Northeast.

In order to increase the emotional intensity of the story I had this young woman, named Abigail Taylor, fall in love with Henry David Thoreau. Her passion is partly for him as a man, and partly for him as a representative of an intellectual life that she finds exciting but beyond her reach. This is in many ways a coming of age novel, because Abigail learns from her relationship with Thoreau the extremes to which her passion can drive her, while from Emerson she learns the importance of self-reliance in a challenging world. As the end of the story suggests, these contrasting lessons lead her to live an exciting life after she leaves the Emerson household.

To go back to my first question as to why I deviated from mystery writing to try my hand at historical fiction, I think all writing in a sense is delving into the mystery of what motivates people. Not all mysteries, and, perhaps not the most interesting ones, involve a crime, but they all involve an examination of the human heart.

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Thank you, Glen, for your wonderful guest post.  I'm so pleased to learn that Margaret Fuller is also a character in your book. (In 2013, I read and reviewed a brilliant biography about her, Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall.)   Thanks as well for graciously offering a copy of Dearest David as a giveaway (U.S./Canada only).

• To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment. 
• For another chance at winning, become a follower of this blog, or let me know that you're already a follower.
• For an additional chance, post about this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. 
• If you've read work by or about Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, or another transcendentalist, mention that for an extra entry.

Enter by 5 PM PDT on Tuesday, March 20 (the first day of spring). One winner will be selected randomly and contacted on Wednesday, March 21.  Good luck to my readers, and as always, thanks for reading!

Margaret Fuller ~ A New American Life: Review and Giveaway

Was Margaret Fuller America's first true feminist? 

Margaret Fuller (1810 - 1850) was a writer and an advocate for women's rights, including women's education and the right to employment; she also encouraged prison reform and the emancipation of slaves in the United States. Susan B. Anthony, and other advocates for women's rights, including Virginia Woolf, were inspired and influenced by the work of Margaret Fuller.  Megan Marshall, the award-winning author of The Peabody Sisters, presents a powerful portrait of a true pioneer in the biography, Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, published in 2013.

"She insisted too that her ideas be valued as high as those of the brilliant men who were her comrades."
~ Margaret Fuller: A New American Life, Megan Marshall

Born in Cambridge, MA, Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli, usually known as Margaret Fuller, was the first full-time American female book reviewer in journalism, and a transcendentalist.  Home-schooled in a rigorous fashion as a child by her father, Timothy Fuller, she later attended school outside of her home, and eventually became a teacher.

"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader."
~Margaret Fuller

Highly intelligent, she was a precocious and voracious reader, and by the time she was in her 30s, she was known as the best-read person in New England.  She was confident and competent, and she didn't allow others to 'erode her enthusiastic confidence of the future'.

Starting in 1839, she began hosting "Conversations", discussions among women on various topics (the first one focused on Greek and Roman mythology), which encouraged women to communicate with each other in a candid way, and were early consciousness-raising groups for women.  She became the first editor of  Henry David Thoreau's transcendentalist journal, The Dial, in 1840, and a few years later, in 1844, she joined the staff of the New York Tribune under Horace Greeley.  Her influential work, available as a free ebook on Project Gutenberg, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, was published in 1845 (other books by Margaret Fuller are also available online).  This book is considered to be the first major feminist work in the United States.

Margaret Fuller became the first female correspondent in Europe for the Tribune, and she became involved with the Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states.  She had a romantic relationship with a younger man, Giovanni Ossoli, and they had a child together.  Sadly, the family of three died in a shipwreck off Fire Island, New York, in 1850, when Margaret Fuller was 40 years old.

Through extensive research which included the reading of her letters, journals, and published work, Megan Marshall brings Margaret Fuller to life.  Throughout her life, Margaret Fuller was a prolific letter writer who "maintained important correspondences" with transcendental thinkers of her time, including Ralph Waldo Emerson (who I've envisioned like Thoreau, walking alone in the woods, contemplating human nature in nature).  She was friends with many intellectuals, including Emerson, Thoreau, the Peabody sisters, the Alcotts, Carlyle, and Mazzini.

If you've ever entertained the idea that people who lived in the 1800s were perhaps deeper thinkers than people today, this book will reaffirm that belief.  This biography gives Margaret Fuller an eloquent voice and presence, by using many of her written words, in quotes. The use of Margaret Fuller's own words, extracted from her letters, journals and work, allows her to tell her own story--this book is almost like an autobiography. (I believe it may be more truthful because it was largely created by the subject's exact words.)  I experienced her profound, astonishing intelligence, and vivacious, sociable personality, in an intimate fashion.  In addition to the quotes throughout the text, many of the chapter titles are quotes from Margaret Fuller's writing.

As I read this biography, I became familiar with Margaret Fuller's manner of speaking and expression of ideas, and I felt as if I were getting to know her beyond a superficial level, as is often the case when we read the personal letters of others, which are filled with thought and feeling.  I also discovered her innate, articulated need to express herself--'a mind that insisted on utterance'--and to go beyond self to help others, especially women.

"If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it."
~Margaret Fuller

Margaret Fuller was truly a woman ahead of her time, who believed that women deserved to be seen as the equals of men, and that marriage should be egalitarian (or at least more egalitarian).  Margaret Fuller: A New American Life is an impressive, well-crafted biography, which features some finely-detailed pictures.  It's a brilliant choice for anyone interested in learning about the life of this remarkable writer and pioneer.

Exciting news for my readers!  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is generously offering a copy of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life as a giveaway (U.S./Canada only).

• To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment.
• For another chance at winning, become a follower of this blog, or let me know that you're already a follower.
• For an additional chance, post about this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter.

Enter by 5 PM PDT on Monday, June 3.  One winner will be selected randomly and announced on Tuesday, June 4.  Good luck! 


Special thanks to Lisa from TLC for sending me an advance copy of this book.  For additional reviews and other features, please visit the other stops on TLC's book tour of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life.