Steamboat Gothic

by Frances Parkinson Keyes

Three generations of a southern family show customs and manners of plantation and river life.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical, Southern Gothic, Romance, Historical Romance, Novels

562 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

Frances Parkinson Keyes was an American author who wrote about her life as the wife of a U.S. Senator and novels set in New England, Louisiana, and Europe. A convert to Roman Catholicism, her later works frequently featured Catholic themes and beliefs. Her last name rhymes with "skies," not "keys."

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are an avid reader, there are books in the back of your closet or behind the books on your shelves that have been there for years waiting for the right time to be opened. Steamboat Gothic is such a book.
Clyde Batchelor is a ne're-do-well riverboat gambler who mends his ways when he meets Lucy Page and what follows is a family saga stretching from the 1860s to 1930. Batchelor builds his empire in Louisiana with the help of his wife, who saves him from ruin and all the while knowing his personal failings before their marriage. She is totally devoted to him and he returns her love.

It is almost a hackneyed story of the ups and downs, love and hate, revenge and forgiveness that surround the people, but is saved from being boring or unbelieveable by Keyes.
There is also a wealth of atmosphere, history and Southern culture in this book as time moves from after the civil war through the rebuilding of the South and toward World War II.
Keyes creates realistic characters who make you either love or dislike them. I thought it was a glorious romp and I miss these people. I'm glad I looked in the back of my closet.

[Jonlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this 1952 novel a long, long time ago - I absolutely loved it. Convoluted, sometimes hard to follow, but immensely satisfying. One of the few books that I still think about. It's time to re-read it.

[Diane Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uplifting, happy and sad. Gets all the shiny stars. After such a wonderful book, what can possibly compare? FPK continues to amaze me. The only downside was the teeny tiny print!

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

FRANCIS PARKINSON KEYES… Over the years I've bought and read most of her books, and I've never been disappointed. I can see how some readers might think her writing is slow. That's because she takes time to give rich details of the time period, her settings, and the backgrounds for her plots. Her impeccable research is second to none. But that's not why I love her work so much. What she does best is tell a great story. In the end, that's the difference between her work and that of lesser writers. Some of them have forgotten that first and foremost they are supposed to be story tellers. Ms. Keyes' books stand the test of time, because great writing and story telling will never go out of style. If you have a chance to read any of her novels, don't pass it up. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
She lives for a year in the setting of her novel, gathering background and stories from people in the area, she meets with the owners of the plantations and includes some of their family stories and details of plantation life in her book, she has people who live in the area help her research, she notes the weather, the plants, the animals, the feel of the place and includes it all in her books. Written in the forties, her books see history, but through the lens of the forties, which gives them an added dimension of interest, as attitudes toward many things are so different 50 years later. She is a strong believer in love at first sight, of understanding and devoted wives, which may reflect the forties, but her characters change, have flaws and pay the consequences, grow wiser as they age and have strong values. There are characters that have no values who are foils and contrast to the main character. She follows a family through three generations, and notes the changes in technology, the current events, and the styles for each generation, as well as the consequence of certain choices made by older generations on their posterity. An historical saga that takes you to a different place and another time.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has taken me a very long time to read this book due to the print being so small it was 562 pages and since it was published in 1952 written in a different type and font. However I am glad I read it as it was a very good book. It has been on my shelves for a long time to read but a trip last year to San Francisco Plantation spurred my reinterest. When I toured San Francisco and saw it lying there on a chair during the tour I determined to start it when I got home. Well with the holidays and all that became later but it was well worth my time. It follows a family from after the Civil War through World War 1 and into the oil boom that happened in Louisiana and up to summer of 1930. Very well written book and so descriptive of all that happened during that time span.

[Eugenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Keyes book from the 40s or 50s. It is a great saga spanning from the Civil War time to about 1930 in the deep south. I was entertained but as with the last Keyes book I read, put off by the racial and gender attitudes of the times. I can't really blame Keyes for writing this way since her ideas were normal for the time, but if I had to read one more time that no woman could ever have a fulfilling life without having a child, or similar nonsense, I would have screamed. Still, very entertaining and reasonable for the time in which it was written.

[David Bush]

"Steamboat Gothic" together with its sequel "Larry Vincent" is America's answer to " Les Miserables" although it is not in the same class as the French classic. The authoress wrote daintily aand with humour about French Americans in the American south, their mores and attitudes. In fact the action shifts from America to France and back again when dealing with the aristocratic descendents.The overarching theme of all her Catholic fiction books is the sacramental nature of marriage. In this novel, a man with a shady, seedy past is captivated by a virtuous woman. He gives up all his vices to marry her. But throughout his life, his seedy past comes back to haunt him .He constantly has to battle the lure of his vices and only manages thanks to his absolute devotion to his supportive wife and daughter. The family goes through one misfortune after another but this bind them even closer. The relationship between the protagonist and his daughter is as poweful as that between Jean Valjean and Cosette.

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars for the first half of the book. Keyes is the kind of writer who lets her story unfold over a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong period of time. In this one, she never really gets to the point and just kind of meanders about for 500+ pages. She also has a rather flowery way of writing and at times the prose hits the deep purple territory. To her credit, she keeps the story confined to a handful of main characters, so it's not hard to follow. I was interested up until the halfway point, then it got too draggy and pretentious, so I quit because good lord, I've been reading this sucker for over two weeks now and just hit the halfway point in the last day or so. One thing that took me so long is the really fine print. My eyes get tired too easy when I'm reading print that fine, so I can only handle reading a few pages before giving it up for the night.

[L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a generational saga that mainly takes place in Louisiana. Plenty of architecture porn if that is your reading kink. The story follows Clyde Batchelor and his kith and kin from the end of the Civil War up into the 1920s. That's a long stretch of time and yet I felt like nothing really happened. Whenever something slightly dramatic did crop up it was over and done with just as quickly. Problems were like speedbumps rather than road blocks on the highway of life. Way towards the last quarter of the book World War I breaks out and looked like the story was (finally) going to get interesting. Then ten pages later the war is over with no lasting impact except as an excuse to have a character be in France.

Frances Parkinson Keyes used to own the bestselling charts back in her day but I fail to see the magic (at least with this novel) her avid readers found.

[Cody · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good popcorn read- where nothing too traumatic happens. I don't recommend this book for it's historical accuracy as the story itself is rather outside of it's time, than of it. It really glosses over what it would have felt like to be literally anyone else (even some of the side characters) in this story. I liked the story, it's basically a historical romance, and that's fun now and again. The writing is incredibly detailed when describing how this plantation family lived and what their etiquette was like, and that's a good, non-evocative read for me. Just something light to enjoy now and again before bed.

[Carrie Dalby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another multi-tissue, "oh-no-she/he-didn't", sobfest off and on throughout Frances Parkinson Keyes Southern Gothic family saga. I knew I was in trouble when I was about half way in and things were going well and there were still almost 300 pages to go--but I didn't expect _spoiler_!
This one is right up there with CRESCENT CARNIVAL for me, but CC is still my favorite (so far). Still many more FPK novels to read.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my mom's favorite author, and I inherited the book from her. It was pretty tedious with long, detailed descriptions and an unclear plot. By the last few chapters, I was just skimming to skip all that detail and be done with it. It did make me want to go to New Orleans, though, and tour antebellum mansions. The other book I read by Keyes (Came a Cavalier) was better.

[Jess Savoie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found this second hand and was drawn by the title.
It's a good read, not great. The ending was rather hurried and the concepts in the book do not age well. A child born out of wedlock in this century is rather less scandalous than it was when the book was written, indeed the time in which the story is set. But it was a nice little historical piece of fiction none the less.

[Cary Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a favorite of my parents. So I decided to check it out and fell in love with the story and the characters! The book written in the 50's tells the story of three generations of plantation owners during the late 1800's. There is history, drama and passion. Highly recommended!

[Deb]

Really enjoyed this multigenerational saga. I had never heard of "Steamboat Gothic" architecture until I came across this 68-year-old novel. A wonderful story that, in my opinion, rivals Gone with The Wind.

[Rosemary Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story of many generations in a family. Some might say it was mainly the story of one man or a plantation in Louisiana. I think it was meant to be a view of the way things were in Louisiana and how they changed. From the end of the Civil War to some time after World War I.

[Kathy O’Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a long read, but worth it for the happy and sad and lovely and annoying and frustrating and wonderful.

[Graceann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steamboat Gothic took a loooong time to get rolling, and the writing style is something that took me a good while to get used to. I normally have a 50-page rule for books in that if I'm not hooked by page 50, I move on. I stuck with this one for a couple of reasons. Firstly, this book belonged to my mother, who has been gone now for more than 20 years, and she cared enough about it to keep it on her shelves for my entire childhood. Secondly, just when I thought "I can't take much more of this," Keyes would throw in some detail that would make me want to continue just to see what it would lead to.

Clyde Batchelor is a (mostly) reformed ne'er-do-well who is redeemed and transformed by the love of an exceptional woman. I'm not giving anything away here; this is revealed on page one. The "Steamboat Gothic" of the title is referring to the style of architecture that was used on occasion along the River Road, wherein homes of steamboat captains were styled to look like the craft their owners had steered through the big rivers of the United States. The book spends 500+ pages telling us about Clyde, his beloved Lucy, and their various friends and family members as they navigate the post-War south and deal with the start of the 20th century.

Part of what set my teeth on edge was the paternalistic, sometimes downright silly attitudes of the characters, even for the time when the book was written. There's a discussion that takes place on Clyde and Lucy's wedding night that was particularly annoying to me. Then there are some "convenient coincidences" that pepper the story, just in time to save the day and continue the plotline.

Overall, however, I came to enjoy my time with the Batchelors and became attached to the Steamboat Gothic house, known as Cindy Lou. The loose threads are pretty well tied up and the story, while improbable, was entertaining in the end. That may well be why my mother held onto the book for all those years - she loved an improbable, yet entertaining read.

[Rosemary Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I keep my copy of the saga Steamboat Gothic, first published in 1952, on shelves in my bookcase where I put the novels I shall keep forever.
When the hero, Clyde Batchelor, who did not know who his parents were, ran away from an orphanage in St Louis when he was a young boy he survived on the streets. Eventually, he became a gambler on the steamboats that plied their way up and down the Missisippi. From these boats he admired Cindy Lou, a house built in the style of a steamboat, that he would buy.
Clyde hears Lucy Forest’s voice and is attracted to her before he sees her. Impoverished by the American Civil War, Lucy, her small son and her husband, Major Forest, are hungry. Clyde helps them and, after Lucy’s husband dies, deeply in love with the young widow, he adores her daughter, Cary, born after the major’s death, from the moment he first sees her.
Steamboat Gothic is a wonderful read which spans the years from 1869 to 1897. It has a large cast of believable characters and gives the reader a wonderful insight into the people’s lives and times in Louisiana, and along the Mississippi.
If you enjoy family sagas rich in romance and historical research I hope you will share my pleasure in this novel, which I finished in one day, re-reading until late at night because I felt compelled to reach the twist in the tale at the end, which brought tears to my eyes.

[Wyrmia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book to read because it has a really great name, however it didn't quite live up to it. The title makes you think it's a perhaps a gothic adventure aboard some steamboats, sadly, it's not. This book is set mainly in Louisiana and starts around the Civil War, ending about the 1930s. It begins when the main character (who earned his fortune gambling and cheating on steamboats) falls in love with a house that is built in the Steamboat Gothic style, a style mimicking the steamboats that were so big at the time. He has a liasion with the woman selling the house--although he is already engaged to the love of his life--and this detail is threaded throughout the rest of the book, although nothing really earthshattering ever happens because of it, which disappointed me somewhat. The book relates his subsequent life and loves and those of the next couple of generations. There really isn't that much on steamboats in the book, although it is always in the background. This was a pleasant book to read, but no more than that.

[Phyllis Gauker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really a wonderful book. wish it had been on kindle so I could have looked up the words I didn't know, though. this was published when I was 9 years old, in 1950 and concerns people, places and things, and thoughts and feelings from 150 years ago, mostly in Louisiana after the civil war on up to the first world war. the book is very well constructed. You follow one main family and their neighbors, some of whom they marry, etc. into every conceivable situation. We observe people making rash decisions (sometimes based on lust or greed) and somehow know those types of people are always with us and these kinds of decisions will endure as long as man lives. And yet, despite the chaos I'm probably depicting to you, there are a few southern ladies who remain calm in all situations and really serve as an example of how to behave. Maybe you have to have lived in the south of the US in order to appreciate it, but I did, because I do live in the south.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

History was good. It was a period of American history I don't know well: Post Civil War to 1930.

The author has good descriptive powers but could not link the story as a whole. This book is like several short stories linked together. There is no unity.

[Fran Calloway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely a lot of history in this book, which was fascinating. However, the story was either very good or very boring. I began to wonder if I would ever finish it. I didn't hate this book, but I didn't love it either.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A romantic view of the old South.

[Linda Branham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in High School... I loved the book. A book of the old south in the vein of Gone With The Wind

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book I read years ago--before Good Reads existed. And loved just as much as all the other books by Frances Parkinson Keyes. What a great author and storyteller.

[C.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was probably the first romance novel I ever read. I went on to read most of her books, and have loved romance ever since.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a lot of Keyes back in the 1960s and loved them all (I was young and not very critical). This didn't read as well the second time around. Of course, I'm not a fan of novels set in the south.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this many years ago. There really is a Steamboat Gothic plantation in Louisiana that you can tour.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, descriptive writing! suspenseful, historical and romantic - just what I needed to mentally prepare for my road trip across the deep south. just a tad long for my taste.