Pumpkin Moon

by Pam Conrad

Ellie Brinkley is a blocked novelist searching for that missing spark to snap her out of the doldrums. Enter Max Turkel, an irresistible young chimney sweep who lures Ellie to her rooftop and quickly sweeps her off her feet. The two soon embark on a playfully romantic adventure filled with an abundance of sex and sailing. Sailing becomes Ellie's raison d'etre, the very muse that she was seeking. She scrapes together enough cash to buy a boat and decides to make sailing the subject of her second novel. But instead of the ideal shipmate she had hoped for, Max proves to be an unreliable free spirit who drops in and out of Ellie's life as he pleases. And when he accidentally discovers Ellie's dark side, Max drops out of her life for good. In the end, Ellie finally confronts the painful truths about her father, her daughter, and her ex-husband - and finds herself free to move on. Pumpkin Moon is a richly drawn tale of romance, suspense, and self-discovery, a loving homage to Moby Dick, and a compelling adult fiction debut.

312 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Pam Conrad (1947-1996) was an author for children. Her book Our House: Stories of Levittown was a Newbery Medal finalist.

Ms. Conrad was born in New York City and graduated from the New School for Social Research.

Reviews

[Barbara Parrish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread after 30 years, still the moving and honest story of guilt and grief, unresolved and ultimately confronted, that I remembered. Sincere simple prose: “Like my imaginary (May) Sarton I can stare at the bird feeder for hours. I can spend an entire afternoon wandering around the house, turning plants on the windowsills, spraying ferns, pinching dried leaves, polishing glass crystals that splatter rainbows on the walls, and admiring the slant of sunlight on a piece of polished wood. I don’t feel as productive as she probably does, though. And I can’t seem to justify it. I start to feel like a suburban housewife during an assassination week when the soaps are superseded by news reports, and she’s no longer sure what her routine is.”