A young woman works as a servant in the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
When seventeen-year-old Abigail Taylor turns down the proposal of Tom Dawkins, her family feels that she must go out and make her own way in the world. So a position as a servant is secured for her in the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson. DEAREST DAVID is the story of the few months in the year 1841 during which Abigail experiences life in the Emerson household at the peak of both its intellectual and emotional intensity. She falls in love with the free spirited but emotionally cool Henry David Thoreau. She discovers the power of the prophetic and frightening Lidian Emerson. She meets the charismatic and radical Margaret Fuller. And she learns to respect but also to recognize the limitations of Emerson himself. She is eventully foreced from the Emerson home in a shocking and disturbing ending.
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Reviews for "Dearest David"
Reviewed by Michael Hartnett
3/9/2018
A Thought-Provoking and Entertaining Historical Novel
In Dearest David by Glen Ebisch offers the greatest pleasures of historical fiction as it breathes life into a particularly revealing point in America’s intellectual growth while making the reader rethink some of the towering figures of the era. As a servant at the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1841, Abigail encounters not only the great Brahmin but also Henry David Thoreau. Emerson and Thoreau are well drawn by Ebisch, and their interactions with Abigail and Emerson’s wife Lydian reveal temperaments better suited for the world of letters to the one of flesh and blood. The David of title is Thoreau (who reversed his first and middle names) and the exchanges between him and the pretty, curious, and clever Abigail serve as crucial pivots in this smartly plotted story.
In fact the women in the novel serve as fascinating counterpoints to the two transcendentalists, whether it be the fiercely independent Margaret Fuller or the educational innovator Miss Ford. Simultaneously nerved-wracked and manipulative, Lydia Emerson looms over the entire work like a haunting shadow (“She hardly ever raised her voice except when she screams”). The cook Mrs. Colesworthy ladles out healthy servings of blunt wisdom and grounds the novel in an earthiness that juxtaposes wonderfully with the cerebral musings pullulating throughout the narrative. Up against these women, Thoreau and Emerson are comparatively coldly reserved, with a fervor that is more conceptual than passionate, except of course when Thoreau gets out in woods. And yet their ideas inside this novel remain as inspired as they are in the essays and books they’ve bequeathed unto us. In other words, Dearest David gives the reader a good deal to ponder even as he becomes engrossed in the developing relationships.
Through her first person account, Abigail becomes emblematic of a household that in so many ways fosters observation, liberation, and enlightenment, yet consigns most women to social shackles. As Abigail explains late in the work: “Theirs was a life of reading and conversation, while mine was one of washing, cooking, and sweeping.” Even as she absorbs Emerson’s and Thoreau’s influences and ideas about beauty, nature, and self-reliance, Abigail is ultimately limited in her growth by obligations, burdens, and obstacles.
Dearest David is a gripping narrative. Ebisch has an elegant style and creates scenes with sharpness and economy. He has presented a view of the American Renaissance through the back door and given the reader a fun and engaging novel that inspires one of rethink the figures and the ideas whose influence continues to sway us today.
I like historical fiction. And, Henry David Thoreau is one of my favorite writers from the 19th century. An intriguing premise for a story. From your bio, part of your range of writing various genres.
An excerpt would certainly help me evaluate your writing. Your one reviewer on Amazon wasn't very kind.
