The Pearl of Orr's Island: A Story of the Coast of Maine

by Harriet Beecher Stowe

The rural tranquillity of the lonely, pine-girthed shores of the Maine coast is the setting for this beautiful novel of conflicting aspirations written by one of the most prolific and influential writers in American history. Here is the heartwarming story of a young girl's struggle to belong and fit in, in the face of adversity, and of her upbringing among strong women, grumpy fishermen, annoying gossips, sea captains, and the dreamlike, temptestuous landscape of Orr's Island. THE PEARL OF ORR'S ISLAND is one of the forgotten -- but not lost -- masterpieces of American literature. It reflects Harriet Beecher Stowe's awareness of the complexity of small-town society, her commitment to realism, and her fluency in the local language.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, American, Novels, School, Historical Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1896

About the author

Great political influence of Uncle Tom's Cabin , novel against slavery of 1852 of Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe, American writer, advanced the cause of abolition.

Lyman Beecher fathered Catharine Esther Beecher, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, another child.

Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe, an author, attacked the cruelty, and reached millions of persons as a play even in Britain. She made the tangible issues of the 1850s to millions and energized forces in the north. She angered and embittered the south. A commonly quoted statement, apocryphally attributed to Abraham Lincoln, sums up the effect. He met Stowe and then said, "So you're the little woman that started this great war!" or so people say.

AKA:
Χάρριετ Μπήτσερ Στόου (Greek)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet...

Reviews

[Jeri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thinking my mind needed a rigorous work-out, and I got it with this book. A very slow, winding read, it was first published in 1866. The English is very antiquated, but it transported me back in time to my teen years when I enjoyed this genteel type of literature.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Harriet Beecher Stowe novel.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I liked Uncle Tom's Cabin, I decided to try this. I was not disappointed at all. Her presentation of Christian life is very realistic and thought provoking.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it to be a charming story set in the equally charming setting of coastal Maine. If you enjoy the passion of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and HBS's explicitly Christian perspective, you should enjoy this novel as I did. There's a certain naivete and unconcern with narrative sophistication in Stowe's writing that I don't think I'd accept from any other writer but her. You'll be transported back to an earlier, simpler time, in a small world peopled with distinctive characters imbued with distinctive voices. Take naive delight in unlikely twists of fate, where all works out well (in a manner of speaking) in the end. Having just recently visited coastal Maine for the first time, I got a bit of a sense of another artist's similar perspective on the human culture there. I spent some time at the the house where Andrew Wyeth painted "Christina's World" and then viewed a number of his other watercolors of that house and family. I felt in his paintings the same "class of lives" that HBS wanted to portray in this book: "obscure and unpretending ... seeming to end in darkness and defeat, but which yet have this preciousness and value ..." It's about people who live huge, rich, moral lives in a very small, poor context. The riches of nature that HBS lovingly describes throughout the novel play a large role in shaping the story and its people.

[Ingeborg]

Received as a gift an 1889 edition of this book - it's the 30th edition of the 1862 novel.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book because I was taking a trip to Maine. The story happened to take place exactly where I was vacationing in Maine -- Harpswell. So, that was very neat to read about. It's about the lives of two families on the coast of Maine in the late 1800s. It's an ok story, just very slow in some parts.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set on 19th century Orr's Island, Maine, this is the story of two orphaned children and the small rural/sea coast community they grow up in. Harriet Beecher Stowe lived in near-by Brunswick for several years, and her familiarity with the area comes through in the small details of life on the island and the characters of the inhabitants.

[Yibbie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very slow moving. There is an odd reliance on dreams to move the story line. That lent it a surreal flavor. Not at all to my taste.
Religion talked about a great deal, but the Gospel is missed. Actually, the Bible isn't really in there much at all.
It has a completely unexpected twist at the end, but it didn't make up for the rest of the book.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad I listened to this book rather than reading a paper copy. The Librivox reader was very good. The story was interesting, the scenery well described, but as other reviewers mentioned, it is a little slow in places. I enjoyed learning what life might have been like on an island off the Maine coast in the mid-19th century.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, simple (and sometimes slow) book about a life lived. Beautiful imagery of east coast scenery and a simple commentary of life in Maine in the late 1800s.

Thoughtful religiously-grounded story of a good life and death.

[Shelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was loving this book - the writing, the imagery, even the well done dialect. Captain Kitteridge is a treasure.
And then, suddenly, it was as if she received an impossible deadline and had to finish the book quickly. It zooms along to a lackluster ending. Oh well...

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

OMG. So boring. I can't believe I made it to the end.

[Donald Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pleasant return to Dissertation Days.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed the descriptions of the life, times and beauty of 18th coastal Maine. Central to the theme was a full exploration of the role that Puritanism played in influencing the residents’ lives, as was the importance of travel and trade by sea in the life’s work of the men and the women who remained (or didn’t remain) behind. Once I adjusted to the writing style of the period, I found this to be an enjoyable read.
I would recommend, though, that anyone reading it NOT purchase the paperback version printed in Lexington, KY on 29 Jan 2018. Interspersed throughout were the page numbers on which the original copy (I suppose) were printed. It went so far as to sometimes even breaks words For example, on p 59 of my copy, Paragraph Three ends with this sentence: “The little Pearl of Orr’s Island had wandered many an hour gather bou [Pg 124] quets of all these, to fill the brown house with sweetness when her grandfather and Moses should come in from work." How incredibly invasive to the flow of the story!

[Mara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this because I was going to Orr's Island in Maine and wanted a book to give me a sense of place and this book delivered in that regard. It was a bit slow and the writing was choppy as years were skipped over, definitely an older style of writing (published in 1861). I loved the descriptive writing and the author's obvious love for the area, but the ending of the book was awful. I almost can't get over it. It is like someone stole the manuscript and tried to write the worst ending they could imagine.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harriet Beecher Stowe does not disappoint in The Pearl of Orr's Island. Just the descriptions of the Maine coast is worth the read. Beecher Stowe's verbiage regarding the flora and fauna make the reader feel like they are on that coast. Her descriptions of the June flowers made me feel like I was right there and could actually smell the pines and flowers.

The story line kept me interested right to the end. I can recommend this book to all readers.

[N A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre. I have a feeling this book would have turned out better if Stowe hadn't abandoned it for a time and then been in a rush to finish it. She also clearly spent very little time plotting, and it shows.


The constant moralizing would have more effect if Stowe had developed her protagonists past caricatures of people, but I realize this is typical of the period and of this type of novel. Only Captain Kittredge and Aunt Roxy are interesting.

[Michelle Atno-hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

In ways, this is the most engaging of Stowe's novels that I have yet read. There are even some parts that state a proto-feminist perspective on women's education and abilities that seem to reflect the views of Stowe's younger half-sister, Isabelle Beecher. However, this early promise disintegrates under Victorian tropes (the consumptive angel in the house, etc.) and what to the modern reader is excessive religiosity and sentimentality. Despite these flaws, the novel is still quite enjoyable.

[Eileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars (ok)

I liked the descriptions of Coastal Maine and started to become invested in the characters with time but wished there had been more to the story itself.

4 stars - setting
3 stars - characters
2 stars - plot

[Sarah Burbank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful scenery and look into the faith and ethics of old new england. Sometimes she makes the same point many times and her very gendered main characters can seem like caricatures of themselves. Not a love story as she says.

[Lisa Rathsack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful, antiquated story had me intermittently laughing, crying, and stealing away odd moments to continue reading. Yes, it's a, "wordy", Victorian novel with characters speaking in dialect, but also a page-turner in all the best ways.

[Geriann Albers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the plot, but writing was rambly and verbose, especially about religion, which made it a bit tedious.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fairly predictable. I'd call it a good beach read, not to much action, just a sweet story.

[Ash Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Maureen Chew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect selection for our crazy times.....turned off the Presidential debate and finished this book. Much better choice!

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, Harriet Beecher Stowe, you turned a perfectly good romance into religious moralizing. I'm not sure why I'm surprised. High five for acknowledging it, at least:

There are no doubt many, who have followed this history so long as it danced like a gay little boat over sunny waters, and who would have followed it gayly to the end, had it closed with ringing of marriage-bells, who turn from it indignantly, when they see that its course runs through the dark valley. This, they say, is an imposition, a trick upon our feelings. We want to read only stories which end in joy and prosperity.

But have we then settled it in our own mind that there is no such thing as a fortunate issue in a history which does not terminate in the way of earthly success and good fortune? Are we Christians or heathen? It is now eighteen centuries since, as we hold, the "highly favored among women" was pronounced to be one whose earthly hopes were all cut off in the blossom,—whose noblest and dearest in the morning of his days went down into the shadows of death.

Disappointment aside, this was a sweet story with really excellent Maine/New England coastal atmosphere. Makes me all warm and fuzzy.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say, it was a much easier read than Uncle Tom's Cabin. The story is sweet, a bit sentimental but gentle. Probably not the type of book for everyone but I enjoyed it.

[Julia Prater · Rating 4 out of 5]

Catching up on some oldies; this one is a delight. Love the style of prose!