"In this amazingly written and deeply researched book, Amy Belding Brown delivers 17th-century Massachusetts to the reader with a prose that springs from the page and wraps you in wonder. " - Historical Novel Society
"A soaring imaginative leap, this book combines detailed history with a page-turning illicit love story." Susan Cheever
On a bitter winter morning in 1676, the Puritan minister's wife, Mary Rowlandson, is captured by Indians. Her home destroyed and her children lost to her, she becomes a pawn in the bloody struggle between English settlers and the indigenous people. Battling cold, hunger, and exhaustion, she witnesses harrowing brutality, but also unexpected kindness.
To her confused surprise, she is drawn to her captors’ open and straightforward way of life, a feeling further complicated by her attraction to a generous, protective English-speaking native known as James Printer. All her life, Mary has been taught to fear God, submit to her husband, and abhor Indians. Now, having lived on the other side of the forest, she begins to question the edicts that have guided her, torn between the life she knew and the wisdom the natives have shown her.
Based on the compelling true narrative of Mary Rowlandson, Flight of the Sparrow is an evocative tale that transports the reader to a little-known time in early America and explores the real meanings of freedom, faith, and acceptance.
A reader's guide and author interview are included in the book.
"In this amazingly written and deeply researched book, Amy Belding Brown delivers 17th-century Massachusetts to the reader with a prose that springs from the page and wraps you in wonder. Flight of the Sparrow showcases the author’s imagination bound by her dedication to historical fact. Her writing engages with a passion and longing as Rowlandson struggles with a life she desires living in the woods with the Indians or reverting to a subservient Puritan wife and mother. As Mary tells her husband, “The truth is… that my time in the wilderness has changed me. Forever.” And so will you be. This is a book for both readers of literary fiction as well as those who love a well-researched work of historical fiction."
"Brown has written an engaging and enjoyable novel based on solid research. Students of history may be put off by the trappings of a romance in the story line but will value the authentic representation of early Colonial America and the more sympathetic portrait of Native Americans that is lacking in James Alexander Thom's similar Follow the River."—Cheryl Bryan, Orleans, MALibrary Journal Booksmack! LJXpress Prepub School Library Journal Horn Book Guide Horn Book Magazine Junior Library Guild
“Brown retells the actual events surrounding Mary Rowlandson’s abduction to expose the difficult role of women in colonial Puritan society, explore Mary’s quest for freedom and offer a fuller understanding of her faith. She eloquently allows Mary’s story to unfold, while ransporting the reader into the rigid world of the Puritans and juxtaposing that with the more natural life of the Native Americans. Brown’s story is as much inspirational as it is historical, and more intriguing because it is true.”
"Flight of the Sparrow is a fresh, engaging chronicle of the human heart that breathes life into a vital but oft-neglected chapter of our history. Amy Belding Brown has turned an authentic drama of Indian captivity into a compelling, emotionally gripping tale that is at once wrenching and soulful." - Eliot Pattison, author of the Mystery of Colonial America series.
"A mesmerizing tale of survival and awakening. Flight of the Sparrow breathes life into Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative. The deftly depicted cross cultural friendship reminded me of Caleb's Crossing and the fast-paced story kept me turning pages. Belding Brown has crafted a fine-limned portrait of a remarkable and resourceful woman." - Donna Thorland, author of The Turncoat and The Rebel Pirate.
"TEN STARS to Amy Belding Brown's Flight of the Sparrow. Couldn't put it down. For the past several years I have felt that every book tells the same old sad stories just cast with characters of different names/descriptions. . ."
"TEN STARS to Amy Belding Brown's Flight of the Sparrow. Couldn't put it down. For the past several years I have felt that every book tells the same old sad stories just cast with characters of different names/descriptions. . ."
In this novel about Ralph Waldo Emerson's wife, Lidian, Amy Belding Brown examines the emotional landscape of love and marriage. Living in the shadow of one of the most famous men of her time, Lidian becomes deeply disappointed by marriage, but consigned to public silence by social conventions and concern for her children and her husband's reputation. Drawn to the erotic energy and intellect of close family friend Henry David Thoreau, she struggles to negotiate the confusing territory between love and friendship while maintaining her moral authority and inner strength. In the course of the book, she deals with overwhelming social demands, faces devastating personal loss, and discovers the deepest meaning of love. Lidian eventually discovers the truth of her own character and learns that even our faults can lead us to independence.
"This is the book I longed to read. This is the story of Lidian, the fascinating woman who was loved insufficiently by Emerson and perhaps too much by Thoreau. Amy Belding Brown has brought her back to life in a novel that glitters with intelligence and authenticity."
"In this extraordinary book, Amy Belding Brown has brought the 19th century to life. We may think of Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family and friends as static daguerreotypes, but in this story they lightly spring off the page with all the inconvenient desires and ambitions that are the texture of our lives. A souring, imaginative leap, this book combines detailed history with a page-turning illicit love story. It's a look at a rich moment in American history and a great read, a rare combination."
"Brown's writing is graceful, at times giving Lidian a poetic voice….In an age when scholarly biographers meticulously document every detail in the actions and settings of their subjects, Brown has escaped to the freedom of fiction to suppose ‘what might have been."
"Amy Belding Brown's novel is a beautiful work that renders effortlessly the sentiments and sensuousness of a woman who is, to use Ms. Brown's own terms, "at war with herself, a woman of opposites who yearns to reconcile her mental acuity with her emotional sensitivity." The spiritual, emotional and intellectual lives she is after illuminating for us are wonderfully ambitious, and it is quite refreshing to see that ambition backed up with a quality of writing that bears up to the weight of its subject matter.”
“Mr. Emerson's Wife engages with intelligence and passion the mind of Lidian Emerson and what is found are the staggering daily compromises and
frustrations of an intellectual 19th century woman. Bless all the conflicted freedoms she sought and bless too Amy Belding Brown for delivering us a robust novel that situates itself with grace and struggle in feminine consciousness among the Concord men.”
“Everyone who has ever entered into marriage with expectations that aren't met will be touched by this portrait of Lidian Jackson Emerson whose life was fixed on coupled stars: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Mrs. Emerson ultimately enters a terrain beyond duty and romance which is carved from years of hurt, loneliness, sterility of affection and the temptation to find love beyond the bounds of her promise. Finally understanding that "disillusion is the nature of marriage," she discovers the strength to live the life she was given rather than the life she once thought she must have.”
Allison Curtis knows she’s the luckiest woman in New England when she accepts the proposal of the wealthy and charming bachelor, Cabot Wilder. But when his socialite mother insists on planning the fall wedding, Allison accepts her best friend’s pleas to spend the summer with her on picturesque Harper’s Island, off the Maine coast. There she’ll be able to relax and calm her pre-wedding jitters.
But from the moment of her arrival, Allison’s days are anything but calm. She repeatedly crosses paths with the disturbingly handsome lobsterman, Brent Connors, who arouses her secret desires and intensifies all her doubts about the future. And when Cabot makes a surprise visit to the island, Allison is forced to choose between her longings and her loyalties.
Originally published in 1992, this light romance is now available for the first time in ebook and trade paperback.
When Chelsea Adams agrees to cater Muriel Winter’s Independence Day party, she has mixed feelings. She’s eager to widen her company’s clientele in southern Maine, but it’s hard to hide her distaste for her wealthy employer’s condescending elitism. Chelsea’s problems multiply when she meets Muriel’s handsome son, Jeff Blaine, and finds she must struggle to resist the powerful longings he awakens in her. Muriel soon detects the chemistry between them and makes it clear she’ll destroy Chelsea’s business if she shows any interest in Jeff.
To regain control of her turbulent feelings, Chelsea spends her off-hours with long-time friend Stuart Potter, a down-to-earth lobsterman. When Stuart surprises her by proposing marriage, Chelsea accepts in the belief it will resolve her problems and stabilize her life.
But Chelsea’s emotions are not to be tamed with an engagement ring. When circumstances repeatedly bring her into contact with Jeff, she’s forced to decide: Will she choose a sensible prudence? Or will she follow the bewildering desires of her incautious heart?
Originally published in 1994, this light romance is now available for the first time in ebook and trade paperback.
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