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One Year From Tonight
How could Emily, aged 25 in 1864, decide what to do with her life when there were so many new possibilities? The world she had been reared to expect had been changed forever by War. Incorporating the full text of a real 1864 diary, One Year From Tonight tells the story of the remarkable choices Emily made as she found her place in a new world.
In a college history course I taught I had my students read an 1864 diary I owned. The students were shocked by the choices which the author of the diary made in the course of the year so I told the students what I thought was left out of each entry. Drawing on my background of writing history books and having edited some for publication I gave students the information which would help them make sense of the entries which were there. My love of Jane Austen helped round out the details.
Class began every day with the students begging me for "more stories". So for them, and for you, this is the story of "Emily".
In a college history course I taught I had my students read an 1864 diary I owned. The students were shocked by the choices which the author of the diary made in the course of the year so I told the students what I thought was left out of each entry. Drawing on my background of writing history books and having edited some for publication I gave students the information which would help them make sense of the entries which were there. My love of Jane Austen helped round out the details.
Class began every day with the students begging me for "more stories". So for them, and for you, this is the story of "Emily".
328 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 7, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 12, 2018
Great history of the times and wonderful, absorbing story telling. This is the diary of a young woman caught up in changing women’s roles and romantic pursuits in Ohio with the constant backdrop of the Civil War.
The writing technique fills in the gaps of a sometimes cryptic diary covering a complex web of relations.
The author uses short, punchy scenes to fill in the gaps in our understanding and built the romantic, life-threatening, military and other dramas that beset her family.
This is an effective form of creative nonfiction that verges on historical fiction, in a way that only an expert historian, which the author clearly is, can provide. Lastly, the author has an uncanny ear for the way Americans wrote and spoke at the time and she reproduces it flawlessly.
While the diarist is more of a “fly on the wall” than a major protagonist, a dizzying world is swirling around her and one reads always wondering what will happen to her, a very apt book title.
The writing technique fills in the gaps of a sometimes cryptic diary covering a complex web of relations.
The author uses short, punchy scenes to fill in the gaps in our understanding and built the romantic, life-threatening, military and other dramas that beset her family.
This is an effective form of creative nonfiction that verges on historical fiction, in a way that only an expert historian, which the author clearly is, can provide. Lastly, the author has an uncanny ear for the way Americans wrote and spoke at the time and she reproduces it flawlessly.
While the diarist is more of a “fly on the wall” than a major protagonist, a dizzying world is swirling around her and one reads always wondering what will happen to her, a very apt book title.
August 7, 2018
Abandoned about 15% of the way through. I know the author said the first few months are the slow part, but I skipped ahead and I couldn't see that it was obviously getting more interesting. I normally love stuff about women's daily life at different historical times, so it's not like this wasn't my genre.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews