Driven Back to Eden

by Edward Payson Roe

Reverend Edward Payson Roe (1838-1888) was an American novelist born in Moodna, Orange County, New York. He studied at Williams College and at Auburn Theological Seminary. In 1862 he became chaplain of the Second New York Cavalry, U.S. V., and in 1864 chaplain of Hampton Hospital in Virginia. In 1866-74 he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Highland Falls, New York. In 1874 he moved to Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, where he devoted himself to the writing of fiction and to horticulture. During the American Civil War he wrote weekly letters to the New York Evangelist, and subsequently lectured on the war and wrote for periodicals. Amongst his novels are: Barriers Burned Away (1872), What Can She Do? (1873), Opening a Chestnut Burr (1874), Success with Small Fruits (1880), A Day of Fate (1880), Without a Home (1881), His Sombre Rivals (1884), A Young Girl's Wooing (1884), An Original Belle (1885), He Fell in Love with His Wife (1886), Driven Back to Eden (1886) The Earth Trembled (1887), Miss Lou (1888), Nature's Serial Story (1889), Taken Alive, and Other Stories (1892), and The Home Acre.

Genres: Classics

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1885

About the author

Reverend Edward Payson Roe (1838-1888) was an American novelist born in Moodna, Orange County, New York. He studied at Williams College and at Auburn Theological Seminary. In 1862 he became chaplain of the Second New York Cavalry, U.S. V., and in 1864 chaplain of Hampton Hospital, in Virginia. In 1866-74 he was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Highland Falls, New York. In 1874 he moved to Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, where he devoted himself to the writing of fiction and to horticulture. During the American Civil War he wrote weekly letters to the New York Evangelist, and subsequently lectured on the war and wrote for periodicals. Amongst his works are Barriers Burned Away (1872), What Can She Do? (1873), Opening a Chestnut Burr (1874), Near to Nature's Heart (1876), A Face Illumined (1878), Success with Small Fruits (1880), A Day of Fate (1880), Without a Home (1881), An Unexpected Result (1883), His Sombre Rivals (1884), A Young Girl's Wooing (1884), An Original Belle (1885), He Fell in Love with His Wife (1886), Driven Back to Eden (1886) and The Earth Trembled (1887).

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love the land and secretly dream of ditching city life and moving your family to the country you just might like this book. Or if you love country life and enjoy stories of a "father knows best" kind of dad instructing his family how to make the most of their new farmland you might like this book too. It's not a masterpiece, but I enjoyed it in part because of the agriculture theme and in part because it's nice to read about a family who is happy working together.

[Perry Whitford · Rating 1 out of 5]

Father decides to ditch his office job and become a farmer. I wish he'd bought the metaphorical farm instead of a real one.

E. P. Roe was of those clergyman authors who sold a lot of books in middle America back in the day. He obviously meant well but this is one of the most boring books I have ever read. I'm all for extolling the virtues of hard work but it shouldn't be such hard work to read about it.

The fledgling farmer does extremely well considering he simultaneously grows just about every type f fruit and vegetable known to man. Problems involve weeds and a lightening strike which destroys the barn. A fiery neighbour and his unruly brood are subdued and rehabilitated just like shelling peas.

The children willingly chip in on the farm. Or maybe the Christian father's tendancy to apply the birch or tie them to a chair when they so much as raise their voices had something to do with their compliance. This conversation with his young son made me laugh though:

"O papa," he faltered, and his eyes were moist, "did you say a gun?"
"Yes, a breech-loading shot-gun on one condition—that you'll not smoke till after you are twenty-one. A growing boy can't smoke in safety."

Duller than paradise.