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Anne
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414 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1880
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About the author
Constance Fenimore Woolson
197 books37 followersConstance Fenimore Woolson (March 5, 1840 – January 24, 1894) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. She was a grandniece of James Fenimore Cooper, and is best known for fictions about the Great Lakes region, the American South, and American expatriates in Europe.
Woolson was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, but her family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio, after the deaths of three of her sisters from scarlet fever. Woolson was educated at the Cleveland Female Seminary and a boarding school in New York. She traveled extensively through the midwest and northeastern regions of the U.S. during her childhood and young adulthood.
Woolson’s father died in 1869. The following year she began to publish fiction and essays in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. Her first full-length publication was a children’s book, The Old Stone House (1873). In 1875 she published her first volume of short stories, Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches, based on her experiences in the Great Lakes region, especially Mackinac Island.
From 1873 to 1879 Woolson spent winters with her mother in St. Augustine, Florida. During these visits she traveled widely in the South which gave her material for her next collection of short stories, Rodman the Keeper: Southern Sketches (1880). After her mother’s death in 1879, Woolson went to Europe, staying at a succession of hotels in England, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Woolson published her first novel Anne in 1880, followed by three others: East Angels (1886), Jupiter Lights (1889) and Horace Chase (1894). In 1883 she published the novella For the Major, a story of the postwar South that has become one of her most respected fictions. In the winter of 1889–1890 she traveled to Egypt and Greece, which resulted in a collection of travel sketches, Mentone, Cairo and Corfu (published posthumously in 1896).
In 1893 Woolson rented an elegant apartment on the Grand Canal of Venice. Suffering from influenza and depression, she either jumped or fell to her death from a window in the apartment in January 1894. Two volumes of her short stories appeared after her death: The Front Yard and Other Italian Stories (1895) and Dorothy and Other Italian Stories (1896). She is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, and is memorialized by Anne's Tablet on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
Woolson’s short stories have long been regarded as pioneering examples of local color or regionalism. Today, Woolson's novels, short stories, poetry, and travelogues are studied and taught from a range of scholarly and critical perspectives, including feminist, psychoanalytic, gender studies, postcolonial, and new historicism.
(from Wikipedia)
Woolson was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, but her family soon moved to Cleveland, Ohio, after the deaths of three of her sisters from scarlet fever. Woolson was educated at the Cleveland Female Seminary and a boarding school in New York. She traveled extensively through the midwest and northeastern regions of the U.S. during her childhood and young adulthood.
Woolson’s father died in 1869. The following year she began to publish fiction and essays in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's Magazine. Her first full-length publication was a children’s book, The Old Stone House (1873). In 1875 she published her first volume of short stories, Castle Nowhere: Lake-Country Sketches, based on her experiences in the Great Lakes region, especially Mackinac Island.
From 1873 to 1879 Woolson spent winters with her mother in St. Augustine, Florida. During these visits she traveled widely in the South which gave her material for her next collection of short stories, Rodman the Keeper: Southern Sketches (1880). After her mother’s death in 1879, Woolson went to Europe, staying at a succession of hotels in England, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.
Woolson published her first novel Anne in 1880, followed by three others: East Angels (1886), Jupiter Lights (1889) and Horace Chase (1894). In 1883 she published the novella For the Major, a story of the postwar South that has become one of her most respected fictions. In the winter of 1889–1890 she traveled to Egypt and Greece, which resulted in a collection of travel sketches, Mentone, Cairo and Corfu (published posthumously in 1896).
In 1893 Woolson rented an elegant apartment on the Grand Canal of Venice. Suffering from influenza and depression, she either jumped or fell to her death from a window in the apartment in January 1894. Two volumes of her short stories appeared after her death: The Front Yard and Other Italian Stories (1895) and Dorothy and Other Italian Stories (1896). She is buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, and is memorialized by Anne's Tablet on Mackinac Island, Michigan.
Woolson’s short stories have long been regarded as pioneering examples of local color or regionalism. Today, Woolson's novels, short stories, poetry, and travelogues are studied and taught from a range of scholarly and critical perspectives, including feminist, psychoanalytic, gender studies, postcolonial, and new historicism.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 6, 2016
3.75 stars
Anne was Constance Fenimore Woolson's first novel and it made the author famous during her time. She finished writing it in 1878, but it was not published until 1880 when it was serialized in Harper's for 18 months for both American and British readers, becoming both a critical and popular success.
The novel is a female picaresque/Bildungsroman that begins on Mackinac Island, in Lake Huron, in Michigan. Later in the novel, I noted parallels here and there to Jane Eyre, which was a huge influence on many female American writers of the time period.
The descriptions of the island in the first chapters are especially fine, along with the gripping account of a horrific storm and the ensuing shipwrecks, as well as that of a forest fire seen from a boat when Anne leaves the island for the first time. Yet this is not a regional, or local color, novel. Once Anne moves from Mackinac and travels to other parts of the U.S.—New York, Ohio, West Virginia— Woolson seems to be consciously creating an American novel. (I enjoyed the passages—see my updates—on the American character.)
While Anne is finely written throughout, it feels as if it's at least two different novels. The courtroom scene is a force, but Woolson lost me a bit somewhere along the 'detective' storyline. Despite that, I couldn’t help but admire the way Woolson allowed the women to do the detective work while still being able to conjure surprising plot twists to keep Anne out of the public eye and her reputation (women doing such work! especially one so tied up with the mystery!) unsullied.
Anne was Constance Fenimore Woolson's first novel and it made the author famous during her time. She finished writing it in 1878, but it was not published until 1880 when it was serialized in Harper's for 18 months for both American and British readers, becoming both a critical and popular success.
The novel is a female picaresque/Bildungsroman that begins on Mackinac Island, in Lake Huron, in Michigan. Later in the novel, I noted parallels here and there to Jane Eyre, which was a huge influence on many female American writers of the time period.
The descriptions of the island in the first chapters are especially fine, along with the gripping account of a horrific storm and the ensuing shipwrecks, as well as that of a forest fire seen from a boat when Anne leaves the island for the first time. Yet this is not a regional, or local color, novel. Once Anne moves from Mackinac and travels to other parts of the U.S.—New York, Ohio, West Virginia— Woolson seems to be consciously creating an American novel. (I enjoyed the passages—see my updates—on the American character.)
While Anne is finely written throughout, it feels as if it's at least two different novels. The courtroom scene is a force, but Woolson lost me a bit somewhere along the 'detective' storyline. Despite that, I couldn’t help but admire the way Woolson allowed the women to do the detective work while still being able to conjure surprising plot twists to keep Anne out of the public eye and her reputation (women doing such work! especially one so tied up with the mystery!) unsullied.
September 21, 2015
This is my third time reading Anne, a novel that first attracted me to Constance Fenimore Woolson (about whom I have written a biography). This time, I got to read it with a class of graduate students. What a thrill that has been. One of them spontaneously wrote to me this morning, "Anne was full of intrigue, suspense and it had a neat ending. It was a fabulous read!!" It has been heartening to see how much they have enjoyed it. Many of them said at our last class that they had already finished it (although it's not due yet) because they couldn't put it down.
Anne was a bestseller in its day. It was such a huge success when it ran in Harper's magazine in 1881-82 that people were speculating in the newspapers about how it would end and the Harpers sent Woolson a thousand-dollar bonus (huge money in those days!) and an exclusive contract. It's easy to see why readers loved it so much--it is an epic love story, a murder mystery, and a coming-of-age novel all rolled into one. My students said they wished they had had it to read along with the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen when they were growing up. I feel the same way.
The heroine, Anne, belongs in the pantheon of iconoclastic heroines. She doesn't set out to subvert (usually male) authority, but she does it over and over again. Woolson has written a heroine who goes against type (she is described by everyone as "big" and exercises vigorously) and who must time and again follow her own feelings over what others think is proper. She is also a good girl who falls in love with the bad boy. Many years later, about one of her other books, a reader wrote to the New York Times that "Miss Woolson knows how what kind of men women like." Judging by my students' reactions, I think she was right!
Anne was a bestseller in its day. It was such a huge success when it ran in Harper's magazine in 1881-82 that people were speculating in the newspapers about how it would end and the Harpers sent Woolson a thousand-dollar bonus (huge money in those days!) and an exclusive contract. It's easy to see why readers loved it so much--it is an epic love story, a murder mystery, and a coming-of-age novel all rolled into one. My students said they wished they had had it to read along with the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen when they were growing up. I feel the same way.
The heroine, Anne, belongs in the pantheon of iconoclastic heroines. She doesn't set out to subvert (usually male) authority, but she does it over and over again. Woolson has written a heroine who goes against type (she is described by everyone as "big" and exercises vigorously) and who must time and again follow her own feelings over what others think is proper. She is also a good girl who falls in love with the bad boy. Many years later, about one of her other books, a reader wrote to the New York Times that "Miss Woolson knows how what kind of men women like." Judging by my students' reactions, I think she was right!
Want to read
October 7, 2016Free download available at Project Gutenberg.
February 8, 2013
In the end, I thought this book nearly as satisfying as Jane Eyre. It is a long book, densely, wonderfully written. Thanks to Com Toibin and his book on Henry James, I was introduced to Woolson, who will give me many hours of reading pleasure. The main character is a young woman in the wilds of Michigan. Due to her poverty, she must go East to receive an education. There are a couple love stories, and what I was as a deep betrayal by her sister, but all ends well for our dear Anne, whose constancy is rewarded.
April 24, 2010
Loved this - loved reading a book that was older than 100 years old - and hearing the author's perspective of American life at that time. She is a wonderful author - very descriptive and also easy to read.
January 5, 2018
A year ago I read a collection of Constance Fenimore Woolson’s short stories and, for the most part enjoyed the stories. I can’t really say the same about this novel.
I discovered Constance Fenimore Woolson and the book Anne through its connection with Mackinac Island. Every few years we spend a week at a relative’s home on the island. Wanting to know more about the history of the island we all love so much I started digging around and discovered Constance Fenimore Woolson. Part of her first novel, Anne, is set on Mackinac Island, where Fenimore Woolson often vacationed. There is a home, built in 1899 when Anne was still a popular best seller, on the island named Anne’s Cottage in honor of Fenimore Woolson and her heroine Anne. There is also a tablet on the island honoring the author and her fictional heroine.
The novel started out alright. A little slow maybe but a decent enough story about a young woman living on Mackinac Island and the struggles she and her family faced. It was setting itself up to a typical bildungsroman. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the island, a place I have biked and explored a number of times and could easily picture what I was reading about.
When Anne leaves the island the story began to change tone and pace until I found myself reading a melodramatic trope. And things just kept getting more and more unbelievable the more I read. I was already rolling my eyes and scoffing a bit too much when all the sudden the last quarter of the novel became a murder mystery/amateur detective novel. What???
As far as our eponymous heroine is concerned, I think the reader was supposed to find her brave and courageous, in fact we were told a number of times that she was brave, but she ran away from almost every trial or difficult circumstance that she faced! And when she did actually face up to something, it was only when practically forced to do so.
Meh. I just don’t care for melodrama
As I said, I enjoyed the short stories that I read but when writing a full length novel things seems to have gone off the rails for Fenimore Woolson. Her writing seems better suited to short stories where she can end things before they get a little out of control.
I discovered Constance Fenimore Woolson and the book Anne through its connection with Mackinac Island. Every few years we spend a week at a relative’s home on the island. Wanting to know more about the history of the island we all love so much I started digging around and discovered Constance Fenimore Woolson. Part of her first novel, Anne, is set on Mackinac Island, where Fenimore Woolson often vacationed. There is a home, built in 1899 when Anne was still a popular best seller, on the island named Anne’s Cottage in honor of Fenimore Woolson and her heroine Anne. There is also a tablet on the island honoring the author and her fictional heroine.
The novel started out alright. A little slow maybe but a decent enough story about a young woman living on Mackinac Island and the struggles she and her family faced. It was setting itself up to a typical bildungsroman. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the island, a place I have biked and explored a number of times and could easily picture what I was reading about.
When Anne leaves the island the story began to change tone and pace until I found myself reading a melodramatic trope. And things just kept getting more and more unbelievable the more I read. I was already rolling my eyes and scoffing a bit too much when all the sudden the last quarter of the novel became a murder mystery/amateur detective novel. What???
As far as our eponymous heroine is concerned, I think the reader was supposed to find her brave and courageous, in fact we were told a number of times that she was brave, but she ran away from almost every trial or difficult circumstance that she faced! And when she did actually face up to something, it was only when practically forced to do so.
Meh. I just don’t care for melodrama
As I said, I enjoyed the short stories that I read but when writing a full length novel things seems to have gone off the rails for Fenimore Woolson. Her writing seems better suited to short stories where she can end things before they get a little out of control.
January 18, 2023
Anne is a novel by American author Constance Fenimore Woolson published in 1881. Woolson's works have fallen into obscurity, but I learned about her on a summer vacation to Mackinac Island in northern Michigan. She spent a lot of time on the island, included it in her writings, and has a memorial there. Now she is best known as the niece of James Fenimore Cooper and the good friend of author Henry James. I read an excellent biography of Woolson last year, Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist by Anne Boyd Rioux, and wanted to read some of Woolson's novels.
I started with Anne because it was Woolson's first novel and supposed to be her most popular and accessible. I went into it thinking it might be sort of a slog, but I ended up absolutely loving it! When we meet Anne, she is a teenager living on Mackinac Island with a blended family and in near poverty. But she is happy - she loves the island and there is some really excellent nature writing here by Woolson. When Anne's father dies, she becomes engaged to her childhood sweetheart and they both go off into the world to try to make some money. Anne is sponsored by her wealthy and hard-hearted Aunt to attend a finishing school in New York with the idea that this will set her up to teach and that will be the end of her relationship with her aunt. But Anne is a lovely person, and she meets friends in high places and begins developing complicated relationships in this higher society circle.
I was really sad when Anne left the island and worried that losing that setting would make the rest of the book uninteresting, but Woolson sets up a beautiful romance in the middle of the book that includes all the typical drama of the era. There are misunderstandings, hidden feelings, and missed chances between several potential couples. And I was totally enamored. Then the Civil War happens, providing another great background/setting for the action. I will admit that the last fifth of the book takes a plot turn that is a bit far-fetched, but it is not out of line with many novels of the era.
I'm sad that this book is not in print and isn't more widely read. If I had to compare her writing with someone, I'd say she has the technique and drama of a Charlotte Brontë and the keen observation of Anthony Trollope. I would really like to read more of her books and hope I can find them. Please give her a try if you are a fan of this era of writing!
I started with Anne because it was Woolson's first novel and supposed to be her most popular and accessible. I went into it thinking it might be sort of a slog, but I ended up absolutely loving it! When we meet Anne, she is a teenager living on Mackinac Island with a blended family and in near poverty. But she is happy - she loves the island and there is some really excellent nature writing here by Woolson. When Anne's father dies, she becomes engaged to her childhood sweetheart and they both go off into the world to try to make some money. Anne is sponsored by her wealthy and hard-hearted Aunt to attend a finishing school in New York with the idea that this will set her up to teach and that will be the end of her relationship with her aunt. But Anne is a lovely person, and she meets friends in high places and begins developing complicated relationships in this higher society circle.
I was really sad when Anne left the island and worried that losing that setting would make the rest of the book uninteresting, but Woolson sets up a beautiful romance in the middle of the book that includes all the typical drama of the era. There are misunderstandings, hidden feelings, and missed chances between several potential couples. And I was totally enamored. Then the Civil War happens, providing another great background/setting for the action. I will admit that the last fifth of the book takes a plot turn that is a bit far-fetched, but it is not out of line with many novels of the era.
I'm sad that this book is not in print and isn't more widely read. If I had to compare her writing with someone, I'd say she has the technique and drama of a Charlotte Brontë and the keen observation of Anthony Trollope. I would really like to read more of her books and hope I can find them. Please give her a try if you are a fan of this era of writing!
November 5, 2013
An 1880 soap opera! We have orphans, unrequited love, war, heroism, love triangles (emphasis on the plural), grumpy old ladies, murder, pseudonyms, and deception in love. (Not to mention a harpist randomly showing up in the woods with his monkey.)
I would have liked this book better if Anne had married the right guy in the end. I didn't particularly like any of the candidates, but especially detested the one she ended up with.
I read this book because part of it takes place on Mackinac Island, which I have been fortunate enough to visit a few times. I loved learning more of the island's history, and especially getting an idea of what life must have been like there before it became a well-kept, crowded tourist destination.
I would have liked this book better if Anne had married the right guy in the end. I didn't particularly like any of the candidates, but especially detested the one she ended up with.
I read this book because part of it takes place on Mackinac Island, which I have been fortunate enough to visit a few times. I loved learning more of the island's history, and especially getting an idea of what life must have been like there before it became a well-kept, crowded tourist destination.
January 9, 2013
This was unexpectedly good! Hadn't heard of the author until I read about her in David Lodge's Author, Author - she was in love and spurned by Henry James. Pity that she's faded away - definitely worth re-discovering, because although there was a rather unrealistic incident towards the end, on the whole this is an absorbing and unusual book. I recommend it.
January 30, 2019
This is a tale of two books: the first half drags along so languidly and placidly that you keep asking yourself, "does this book even have a discernible plot?" I got so frustrated with it that I almost quit reading a couple of different times, I'm glad I did not for I ended up really enjoying the book.
What salvages the first half of the book is the use of description and the sparkling characters that Ms. Woolson draws with her pen. Her ability to create characters is really amazing. Take Tita for instance, Anne's half-sister and a minor character in the book. Here is how Ms. Woolson describes her:
"The eldest, the girl, was small—a strange little creature, with braids of black hair hanging down behind almost to her ankles, half-closed black eyes, little hands and feet, a low soft voice, and the grace of a panther." Oh, and what a panther Tita is, but then, you have to read the book to find why. A beautifully drawn character.
There is another character in the book who is super cheap and wow, does Ms. Woolson draw out her character well. She has a whole plan to sleep in the equivalent of a broom closet for ten hours, so that she and Anne can sit up all night at the railroad depot and not have to pay for a night's lodging.
And on it goes. Ms. Woolson is a master at characters. This salvaged the first half of the book.
The second half of the book is where the plot really gets going and I read through it rapidly, and boy! did it take some twists and turns that I did not expect at all. Ms. Woolson has a knack for dropping a bomb on you when you least expect it. Really good.
I was expecting this book to be kind of like Anne of Green Gables, a fun, interesting story for teens. That is not this book at all. Throughout the book, Ms. Woolson has deep insights into human nature that are quite remarkable. Here is a passage on jealousy:
"It was jealousy, plain, simple, unconquerable jealousy, which was consuming her; jealousy, terrible passion which the most refined and intellectual share with the poor Hottentots, from which the Christian can not escape any more than the pagan; jealousy, horrible companion of love, its guardian and tormentor. God help the jealous! for they suffer the acutest tortures the human mind can feel. And Anne was jealous."
Wow. Just wow!
Here is another gem:
"But nothing appeals so powerfully to a woman's heart as the sudden feebleness of a strong man—the man she loves. It is so new and perilously sweet that he should be dependent upon her, that her arm should be needed to support him, that his weak voice should call her name with childish loneliness and impatience if she is not there."
My wife read that, and she's like, "yeah! That is exactly how we are."
Here is one of my favorite passages in the book on temptation:
"It is easy for the young to be happy before the deep feelings of the heart have been stirred. It is easy to be good when there has been no strong temptation to be evil; easy to be unselfish when nothing is ardently craved; easy to be faithful when faithfulness does not tear the soul out of its abiding-place. Some persons pass through all of life without strong temptations; not having deep feelings they are likewise exempt from deep sins. These pass for saints. But when one thinks of the cause of their faultlessness, one understands better the meaning of those words, that "joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need not repentance."
A very, very good book and well worth reading for her insights into the human condition.
What salvages the first half of the book is the use of description and the sparkling characters that Ms. Woolson draws with her pen. Her ability to create characters is really amazing. Take Tita for instance, Anne's half-sister and a minor character in the book. Here is how Ms. Woolson describes her:
"The eldest, the girl, was small—a strange little creature, with braids of black hair hanging down behind almost to her ankles, half-closed black eyes, little hands and feet, a low soft voice, and the grace of a panther." Oh, and what a panther Tita is, but then, you have to read the book to find why. A beautifully drawn character.
There is another character in the book who is super cheap and wow, does Ms. Woolson draw out her character well. She has a whole plan to sleep in the equivalent of a broom closet for ten hours, so that she and Anne can sit up all night at the railroad depot and not have to pay for a night's lodging.
And on it goes. Ms. Woolson is a master at characters. This salvaged the first half of the book.
The second half of the book is where the plot really gets going and I read through it rapidly, and boy! did it take some twists and turns that I did not expect at all. Ms. Woolson has a knack for dropping a bomb on you when you least expect it. Really good.
I was expecting this book to be kind of like Anne of Green Gables, a fun, interesting story for teens. That is not this book at all. Throughout the book, Ms. Woolson has deep insights into human nature that are quite remarkable. Here is a passage on jealousy:
"It was jealousy, plain, simple, unconquerable jealousy, which was consuming her; jealousy, terrible passion which the most refined and intellectual share with the poor Hottentots, from which the Christian can not escape any more than the pagan; jealousy, horrible companion of love, its guardian and tormentor. God help the jealous! for they suffer the acutest tortures the human mind can feel. And Anne was jealous."
Wow. Just wow!
Here is another gem:
"But nothing appeals so powerfully to a woman's heart as the sudden feebleness of a strong man—the man she loves. It is so new and perilously sweet that he should be dependent upon her, that her arm should be needed to support him, that his weak voice should call her name with childish loneliness and impatience if she is not there."
My wife read that, and she's like, "yeah! That is exactly how we are."
Here is one of my favorite passages in the book on temptation:
"It is easy for the young to be happy before the deep feelings of the heart have been stirred. It is easy to be good when there has been no strong temptation to be evil; easy to be unselfish when nothing is ardently craved; easy to be faithful when faithfulness does not tear the soul out of its abiding-place. Some persons pass through all of life without strong temptations; not having deep feelings they are likewise exempt from deep sins. These pass for saints. But when one thinks of the cause of their faultlessness, one understands better the meaning of those words, that "joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need not repentance."
A very, very good book and well worth reading for her insights into the human condition.
July 23, 2017
Anne moves through several recognizable genres: something like local color, a society novel, a romance, and finally detective fiction. I wouldn't personally call it a picaresque, just because it spends quite a bit of time stationary in each of these genres (and their respective locations). The opening 150 pages are really quite excellent: there are some incredibly rich descriptive passages as well as some really interesting discussion of what it means to be local and what it means to be American. I found the rest less interesting despite the intrusion of the Civil War at the 2/3rds mark. This is partly because the novel becomes much more solely focused on a romance plot, which snuffs out the greater variety in theme and style of the earlier section; it's also partly because, frankly, Anne's romantic interest is uninteresting and unconvincing.
January 18, 2022
Perhaps I should give more stars to a 500+ page book that I managed to finish, but it's not a book I could really recommend. The first section provides an interesting look at life on Mackinac island in the mid-19th century, though it's marred by racist attitudes, in particular towards Native Americans. The story dragged for me when Anne first went to New York City, and I almost gave up. But then it turns into a melodramatic soap opera that amused me enough to keep me turning pages. All of the other characters' choices revolve around creating tension and then resolution for Anne, who is virtuous to a fault. Her stubbornness is the only relief to her blandness.
December 20, 2020
Anne is set on Mackinac island. This where Constance Fennimore Woolson had summered with her family. It is about a little girl growing up on Mackinac Island. Struggling with self fulfillment. it has a good amount of detail of the island culture. pays particular attention to the French settlers and those who derived a mix of First Nations and French. The island has dedicated a spot, overlooking Marquette Park to her. Anne's Tablet, nice quiet spot . It was, and still is my thinking spot.
December 12, 2018
This is a well written book held my attention to the end, I very much like this author.
This story takes the reader through the lives of the wealthy society of the Eastern cities and the common people as well during the mid 19 th century.
This story takes the reader through the lives of the wealthy society of the Eastern cities and the common people as well during the mid 19 th century.
August 19, 2020
More ambitious in terms of setting and characters than more recognized authors of the time, but definitely a product of its time in terms of attitudes toward Native Americans.
Want to read
July 1, 2025Found here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32707...
June 30, 2019
Constance Woolson’s first published novel. She does a great job of capturing the Great Lakes small town experience of the 1850s.
Like most books written from this time, it starts off a bit slow. Also like other books of this time, the true plot doesn’t truly present itself until about halfway into the book. Unlike most books of this time, Ms. Woodson does something only found in timeless classics. She world builds the society and surroundings of the main character. Not to the extent that someone of the 19th century could comprehend but to the extent of someone who has never experienced either place or society could understand. In doing this, she has captured the essence of her time/place for as long as her book can be read.
The story becomes a series waves coming at high tide. The events that unfurl throughout the second half of the book had me picking it up at every opportunity I had to read. I kept waiting to see if the tide would sweep our main character away. There were several points where opportunity struck for her to make certain statements and points about society of her time. Whether she didn’t believe in those points or she was too hesitant to do so, they were never made. However, she did take measures to hint toward points that were popular at that time among first wave American feminists.
While the ending wasn’t what I had hoped, it still felt like a complete story and I look forward to her other novels.
Like most books written from this time, it starts off a bit slow. Also like other books of this time, the true plot doesn’t truly present itself until about halfway into the book. Unlike most books of this time, Ms. Woodson does something only found in timeless classics. She world builds the society and surroundings of the main character. Not to the extent that someone of the 19th century could comprehend but to the extent of someone who has never experienced either place or society could understand. In doing this, she has captured the essence of her time/place for as long as her book can be read.
The story becomes a series waves coming at high tide. The events that unfurl throughout the second half of the book had me picking it up at every opportunity I had to read. I kept waiting to see if the tide would sweep our main character away. There were several points where opportunity struck for her to make certain statements and points about society of her time. Whether she didn’t believe in those points or she was too hesitant to do so, they were never made. However, she did take measures to hint toward points that were popular at that time among first wave American feminists.
While the ending wasn’t what I had hoped, it still felt like a complete story and I look forward to her other novels.
November 17, 2024
This is the story of a young woman, Anne, who lives with her father on Mackinac Island in Michigan. After Anne's mother died, her father remarried a woman of mixed French/Indian heritage and now Anne has three younger siblings. After her stepmother dies, Anne does her best to care for these children. They live in an old house that used to be the Agency for the Native Americans. . Nearby there are abandoned fur trading buildings and an old fort. She falls in love with Rast, one of the local boys, who pledges to marry her. They are separated when he goes away to college. After her father dies, Anne goes to lives with her great aunt who is mean and demanding, but does allow her to continue her education and agrees to send money for the younger siblings. In the summer, she goes to Carys, a summer camp for the rich. Here, Anne is introduced to two young men of means, Heathcote, and Dexter, and both would like to marry her. However, defies her aunt and she remains loyal to Rast and returns home to Mackinac Island.
I read about Anne when I was researching Michigan for an upcoming vacation. There is a place on the island with a memorial for Anne and delving further, I discovered this book. It is an older book so it was a free Kindle upload.
I read about Anne when I was researching Michigan for an upcoming vacation. There is a place on the island with a memorial for Anne and delving further, I discovered this book. It is an older book so it was a free Kindle upload.
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July 6, 2016On the whole, I enjoyed this book. It's an American romance, the author provides charming backstories for various secondary characters, the heroine is intelligent and caring. I'll probably reread it sometime.
A couple issues. One is the casual racism which is pretty normal, I suppose, for the era, but in a couple of places becomes offensive enough to put me off the story. I won't describe it, it's too depressing.
The other issue is that about 3/4 of the way through the book, it switches from romance to detective novel. I found the switch jarring and the pacing of the mystery was off. I didn't totally dig the ending, but maybe on a re-read the mystery and the ending wouldn't bother me so much since I'd know what to expect.
A couple issues. One is the casual racism which is pretty normal, I suppose, for the era, but in a couple of places becomes offensive enough to put me off the story. I won't describe it, it's too depressing.
The other issue is that about 3/4 of the way through the book, it switches from romance to detective novel. I found the switch jarring and the pacing of the mystery was off. I didn't totally dig the ending, but maybe on a re-read the mystery and the ending wouldn't bother me so much since I'd know what to expect.
April 21, 2016
This book caught my attention because the protagonist, Anne Douglas, grew up on Mackinac Island. The story began on the island in around 1860, and it was fascinating to read what life on the island then was like. Once Anne left the island the plot took some very wild turns (there were proposals and murder and betrayal- one scene was a literal cliffhanger) but I didn't enjoy it quite as much. I would have preferred if Anne had married a different suitor than she did, but overall, quite an entertaining read.
August 23, 2013
I enjoyed this book, especially its picture of life on the Great Lakes in the second half of the 19th century, but on the whole I was somewhat disappointed by it. It did not seem as well written as other books I've read by Woolson because a great deal of it seemed very contrived and formulaic, even for the period. Woolson can be a rewarding read, but I wouldn't start here!
October 22, 2016
Not read too much but should be read
Fromm innocence to reality here is a deeply plotted tale of everlasting love. The author is American in the 1870s.
Fromm innocence to reality here is a deeply plotted tale of everlasting love. The author is American in the 1870s.
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