Barbara Newhall Follett: A Life in Letters
-
- $15.99
-
- $15.99
Publisher Description
Born in 1914 into a literary family, Barbara Newhall Follett published her first novel with Alfred A. Knopf--THE HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS--when she was twelve. It was widely praised throughout the United States and Great Britain. Eleanor Farjeon, who composed the hymn "Morning Has Broken," wrote: "These pages simply quiver with the beauty, happiness, and vigour of forests, seas, and mountains.... I can safely promise joy to any reader of it. Perfection."
In 1927 Barbara convinced her parents to let her sail on an old trading schooner from her home in New Haven, Connecticut, to Nova Scotia; and the following year Knopf published THE VOYAGE OF THE NORMAN D.--her remarkable description of the voyage. Barbara's literary career looked bright, but shortly before publication her father deserted his family for a younger woman. Barbara was devastated, but convinced her mother that their best recourse was to go to sea with their typewriters.
After ten months at sea Barbara met and fell in love with a sailor, Edward Anderson. After moving to New York during the early months of the Great Depression, Barbara began writing her third and last book--LOST ISLAND--which mirrors her own life and that of her wandering sailor's. Soon, however, she would meet a new beau, Nickerson Rogers. Both devotees of woods and mountains, the couple spent the summer of 1932 walking the Appalachian Trail from Katahdin to the Massachusetts border. After a year exploring Europe they married in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1934. Five years later, with the marriage failing, Barbara walked out of her home and was not heard from again. She was twenty-five.
Happily, Barbara left behind dozens of her remarkable, rich letters; descriptions of wilderness adventures; short stories (the later ones autobiographical); accounts of her imaginary world, Farksolia, and her semi-autobiographical novel, Lost Island (now available from Farksolia). This book, compiled and edited by Barbara's half-nephew, tells the story of Barbara's life through her own words as well as those of her family and correspondents.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The writer Barbara Follett, as revealed in this compilation of letters, diary entries, and reviews edited by her half-nephew Cooke, lived a life that would be unbelievable if it were presented in a work of fiction. Born in 1914, Barbara began writing at age four and published her first novel, The House Without Windows, at 13. She was home-schooled and had little contact with other children; most of her early letters are to grown-up friends. She was enthralled by nature and invented her own world, Farksolia. This idyllic life was shattered when Barbara's adored father left the family for another woman. His letters at this time are bitterly cruel. In an effort to establish Barbara as a travel writer, her mother, Helen, took her on a long odyssey to the South Pacific. Cooke's narrative emphasizes that Barbara shared her father's tendency to escape problems rather than confronting them. In Samoa, Barbara suffered "a smash emotional and nervous." Back in the U.S., she ran away and was found by the police, a widely reported incident. In 1939, shortly after her husband of five years asked for a divorce, she left her house and was never seen again. Many of the letters repeatedly cover the same ground, but anyone intrigued by this real-life mystery will want to read them all. Her fantastical life and the enigma of her disappearance are equally compelling. (BookLife)
