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Adobe DRM
Product Details
Touchstone, January 2008
eBook, 320 pages
ISBN-10: 1416553789
ISBN-13: 9781416553786
Description
It is 1887, and Henry Ward Beecher lies dying. Reporters from around the world, eager for one last story about the most lurid scandal of their time, descend on Brooklyn Heights, their presence signaling the beginning of the voracious appetite for fallen celebrities we know so well today.
When Henry Ward Beecher was put on trial for adultery in 1875, the question of his guilt or innocence was ferociously debated. His trial not only split the country, it split apart his family, causing a particularly bitter rift between his sisters, Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Isabella Beecher Hooker, an ardent suffragist. Harriet remained loyal to Henry, while Isabella called publicly for him to admit his guilt. What had been a loving, close relationship between two sisters plummeted into bitter blame and hurt.
Harriet and Isabella each had a major role in the social revolutions unfolding around them, but what happened in their hearts when they were forced to face a question of justice much closer to home? Now they struggle: who best served Henry -- the one who was steadfast or the one who demanded honesty?
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How did you come to write this book?
I thought I knew all there was to know about Harriet Beecher Stowe when I began exploring the possibility of writing about her. She was the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," a book that galvanized a nation against slavery, and I was sure I had read it sometime back in school. It was one of those books that got "assigned" and so was read dutifully and then forgotten. I soon realized not only that I had never read it, I knew very little about Harriet's life - and, in particular, her amazing family. The Beechers were rock stars of the 19th century - the Kennedys of their generation: glamorous, accomplished and highly respected. But there was plenty going on behind the scenes. When Harriet's brother, Henry Ward Beecher, was put on trial for adultery, the ensuing scandal rocked the nation. Henry was the most famous preacher in America, and his trial split the Beecher family apart. Harriet was doggedly loyal, refusing to believe a word of the charges against her brother. But Isabella, the youngest of the Beecher sisters, believed Henry was guilty and that he should admit to the truth. For that, she was ostracized by the family, especially her much-loved older sister, Harriet. By now, I was hooked. This story had everything - religion, politics, race, sex, family values and even the battles of the women's movement. The facts took me only so far. What might have gone on in the hearts and minds of the Beechers, especially Harriet and Isabella, as they struggled with their painful rift and tried to find a way forward? My challenge as a novelist was to fill in what is lost in the fog of history with my imagination.
"Harriet and Isabella takes us right into that fascinating place where power, morality, and human desire meet. In the skilled hands of Ms. O'Brien, the tragic story of the Beecher family becomes a compelling page-turner with unmistakable echoes in our own times." -- Thomas Dyja, author of Play for a Kingdom
-- Thomas Dyja, author of Play for a Kingdom
"While everyone has heard of Uncle Tom's Cabin and can name its famous author, few know the story of the distinguished family from which she came, the remarkable Beecher clan. In Harriet and Isabella, Patricia O'Brien has brought the Beecher family back to life. These passionate abolitionists, ardent preachers, and reformers are also touchingly fallible human beings, whose loves, feuds, and scandals provide O'Brien with more than a family drama, but rather the drama of an American era." -- Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March
-- Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March
"Patricia O'Brien has taken a familiar tale of scandal and self-destruction -- the trial of Henry Ward Beecher, with all its ramifications for post-Civil War America -- and has brought it back to life for us in Harriet and Isabella. Beautifully told, in it we see afresh how a family, caught up in their times and celebrated as an example to the nation, began to unravel as the result of Beecher's transgressions and his family's own conflicting loyalties. I found myself caught up in their times and their world through Ms. O'Brien's masterful storytelling." -- Robert Hicks, author of Widow of the South
-- Robert Hicks, author of Widow of the South
"The trial of Henry Ward Beecher and its impact provoked an earthquake in the political life of the United States. Now, Patricia O'Brien has given the Beecher family its due long after the original scandal has faded away." -- Gore Vidal, author of Lincoln
-- Gore Vidal, author of Lincoln
"As compelling as it is lovely. The imagined world of perhaps the most influential woman in history, Harriet Beecher Stowe, is moving, vibrant, extraordinarily well informed, and unforgettable. Read and be haunted." -- Patricia Cornwell, bestselling author and descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe
-- Patricia Cornwell, bestselling author and descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe
"Harriet and Isabella is a taut, tension-filled novel about a close-knit family torn apart by accusations of adultery -- and because the family is among the most prominent in American history, the story unfolds against a panorama of abolitionism, politics, and suffrage, while remaining suffused with the small details of daily life which make historical fiction illuminating." -- Lauren Belfer, author of City of Light
-- Lauren Belfer, author of City of Light
"A vivid and expert narrative of deep and complex relationships...." -- Barbara Goldsmith, author of Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull
-- Barbara Goldsmith, author of Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull
"Riveting...a penetrating tale of sex and temptation and politics and family ties. It turns you into a front-row witness at one of the most sensational scandals of America's past. I couldn't put it down." -- Lynn Sherr, author of Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words
-- Lynn Sherr, author of Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words
"[O'Brien] smartly blends history about this fascinating family...a winning piece of historical fiction." -- Kirkus Reviews
-- Kirkus Reviews
"This intriguing novel illuminates the era's political and social struggles as well as the stresses within a celebrity family." -- Library Journal
-- Library Journal
"Authentically detailed, this finely wrought historical novel...[is] a fictional page-turner."
-- Booklist
Patricia O'Brien's Books
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I Know Just What You MeanPulitzer prize-winning columnist Ellen Goodman and novelist-journalist Patricia O'Brien provide a thoughtful, deeply personal look at the enduring...Read More
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