The Island Queen: Celia Thaxter of the Isles of Shoals

by Julia Older

Poetry, romance, and murder combine in this historical novel based on the life of Celia Thaxter (1835-1894). A group of islands off the New Hampshire coast is the backdrop for Thaxter's stormy separation from her husband and her granite determination to provide for their backward son by writing. Soon her essays appear alongside Longfellow's in The Atlantic Monthly and her stories are published with Louisa May Alcott's. The famous British author Charles Dickens dreams about Celia, and Harriet Beecher Stowe and Hawthorne visit the young writer at her parents' resort hotel. Enter bachelor poet John Greenleaf Whittier, and at once Celia throws convention to the wind. Unchaperoned, they linger in her bedroom, dawdle at candlelit croquet, and take long moonlit strolls. A double axe murder and the hottest trial of the 19th century turns this captivating story into a real sizzler.

Genres: Historical Fiction

206 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Tori Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I waffled on this rating... I would say it’s solidly 3.5 stars for me. Considering how long ago it was published and how the material was handled I can’t fault it too much. My biggest complaint is that it wasn’t long enough. It felt like the story suddenly dropped off and then there was a rushed ending. Celia is such a fascinating person and it could have easily delved even further into her ties with Victorian occultism after the death of her mother. That aside, I couldn’t put it down and did thoroughly enjoy the suggested romance with Whittier.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Celia Leighton, a real person, grew up on the Isles of Shoals, off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine. Her parents ran a resort hotel on Appledore Island. She married Levi Thaxter and had children, including a son who was slow to learn and required a lot of care. Celia met many 19th century men and women of letters who came to the Isles for summer vacations. The story alludes to a relationship between Celia and John Greenleaf Whittier; I’d be interested to know what truth there is behind that. There was a famous double axe murder on the Isles with a sensational trial which is also included in the story. Celia was an artist and a poet, and the flower garden that she grew and loved has been re-created so that visitors to the island can enjoy it today. I've been to the Isles of Shoals and was familiar with Celia's story and the story of the murders. This might have been better as non-fiction; it didn't really hold together as a novel.

[Grace Gonsalves · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a failed attempt at a promising premise. I wonder if the author tried too hard to connect the life of Celia Thaxter to what she researched about her when she could have been better off making a character based on Celia Thaxter. There were moments when I thought the writing style had promise such as this quote: “Her arms laden with flowers, she returned to the cottage, while imagining the world as her private sanctuary, and she, the high priestess chosen to worship while the others slept.” (pg 78) on early rising. There were other times, most of the time, when I was simply underwhelmed. It was not bad, I did not detest this novel, if anything I felt passive to it. There were scenes that with some more landscape detail and complex character rendering could have improved this novel, but it seemed more like a first draft than a completed, complex and published work. The potential of what I read kept me reading, but I would not recommend it.

Themes: Disability // Marriage // Youth // Fame

Favorite character: honestly, none of the characters were complexly portrayed but I enjoyed Celia Thaxter most.

Favorite technique: unspecific use of time.

Favorite quote: “Although it had been written almost a thousand years before, it matched her own feelings so perfectly that Celia felt as if she knew the Greek woman who wrote it.” (30) This one spoke to me because of the western civilization class I am currently taking, we just read the Acts of Thecla today.

Favorite theme: I didn't feel like any of the themes were throughly developed but the disability and fame themes had the most potential

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a Portsmouth, NH vacation, my wife and I took a cruise out to the Isle of Shoals. That was the first time I heard about Celia Thaxter, who was apparently a wildly popular author in her time (1835-1894). Judging by this book, she also attracted a charmed circle of other writers and poets, including Whittier, Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Sara Orne Jewett (another writer who's mostly forgotten today).

The book is beautifully readable, and it squares with what I heard about Celia on the Isle and on the boat (as well as what I heard about the lurid murder that makes up the last third of the book). The author does focus on the dramatic in general, including a (chaste) romance with Whittier that I have no way of knowing is factual (and how does Julia Older?

The book pleasantly reminded me of what I'd seen and heard, and I think if you haven't been there, you will still enjoy the way it evokes the islands. The portrayal of a spirited woman in the 19th century is pleasurable, too, and not at all anachronistic. I suspect I will read more about Celia Thaxter, and a bit more of the Isle of Shoals series, too.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated learning more about Celia Thaxter, but was disappointed in the way this novel jumped around. The end in particular felt rushed and unsatisfactory.

[S. Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good language usage but the time frames are difficult to follow and somewhat confusing.

[Bjipson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, although to me it ended pretty abruptly. I would have liked more about her gardens and her approach to gardening there, of course. Would love to go out to see...

[James Giddings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started re-reading this novel by a local poet-novelist while convalescing last week. It is just so good, I have to recommend it, though this is not the first time I have read it. Julia Older combines historic facts about the 19th-century poet Celia Thaxter and the remarkable people she associated during her life with some plausible speculation about her relationship with the poet Whittier.

[Deane · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually enjoy novels involving real people but this book was not a satisfying read. Found it very confusing with incomplete information regarding the gaps in time frames. I did enjoy the information about the Isles of Shoals and the book did send me to 'Google' to find out more about Celia Thaxter, a well-known poet from New Hampshire in the late 1800's.

[Lorraine McCleary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very so so. If this book is about a wonderful poetress, it should have contained more of her works instead of just mentioning them. The story was just so so.