Evening Star

by Faith Baldwin

Shares the author's observations on nature and life over the course of one year

Genres: Essays

255 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Faith Baldwin attended private academies and finishing schools, and in 1914-16 she lived in Dresden, Germany. She married Hugh H. Cuthrell in 1920, and the next year she published her first novel, Mavis of Green Hill. Although she often claimed she did not care for authorship, her steady stream of books belies that claim; over the next 56 years she published more than 85 books, more than 60 of them novels with such titles as Those Difficult Years (1925), The Office Wife (1930), Babs and Mary Lou (1931), District Nurse (1932), Manhattan Nights (1937), and He Married a Doctor (1944). Her last completed novel, Adam's Eden, appeared in 1977.

Typically, a Faith Baldwin book presents a highly simplified version of life among the wealthy. No matter what the difficulties, honour and goodness triumph, and hero and heroine are united. Evil, depravity, poverty, and sex found no place in her work, which she explicitly intended for the housewife and the working girl. The popularity of her writing was enormous. In 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, she published five novels in magazine serial form and three earlier serials in volume form and saw four of her works made into motion pictures, for an income that year in excess of $315,000. She also wrote innumerable stories, articles, and newspaper columns, no less ephemeral than the novels.

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

September 16th, 2015 ~ Five years ago I discovered Faith Baldwin's non-fiction books, her thoughtful, gentle month-by-month essays on nature, the seasons, and well, life. It was an unassuming little volume of Many Windows, Seasons of the Heart I'd plucked off the shelf in a second-hand bookstore that started it all--this friendship with a woman no longer living.

I've been unable yet to gain an affinity or appreciation for her novels, but, oh, her non-fiction writing is something else! So simple and honest that her words and thoughts go right to my center and settle there in my heart. And each year since, as summer fades into fall, she calls me back. There's something about the cooling nights, the crisping of the air, and changing leaves that remind me of her and her wisdom. So I find myself taking one of her books--carefully and lovingly collected from various sources--off the shelf and I discover her once again, waiting for me in the pages.

This time it is her sixth book of essays, Evening Star, and yes, there she is once more, counselor and friend...
So good to see you again!

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dear Faith Baldwin,

I think you and I are going to become great friends. Even if it turns out I don't like your fiction, I think I shall always love your wise musings on life.

According to the list in the front of the book, you were very prolific. I am quite glad.

Much love,

Your newest fan

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

An almanac style book, gently going through the months and pondering the changes in seasons, activities, the garden, and memories. I lingered through this book and much enjoyed spending time with the author.