New England author Glen Ebisch explores love in the time of Emerson and Thoreau in historical romance, Dearest David
In Dearest David, after seventeen-year-old Abigail Taylor turns down a proposal from a well-off but uninspiring suitor, her impoverished parents feel that she must go out and make her own way in the world. Self-sufficient and bright, Abigail decides to take a position as a servant in the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson, rather than work on her family farm.
Abigail only spends a few months during the year 1841 as a kitchen maid and part-time nanny to the Emerson children, but she 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 ambivalent Henry David Thoreau and learns that she must share her fascination with him with both Emerson’s wife, the prophetic and frightening Lidian, and the children’s governess, Ms. Ford. She also meets the charismatic radical journalist, Margaret Fuller. And she learns to respect but also to recognize the limitations of Emerson himself. Eventually, Abigail is forced to leave her employment in the Emerson household, but only after realizing the magical nature of her time in this special place, where discussions about the principles of self-reliance, feminism, and abolitionism flourished.
Based on true events, Dearest David possesses a unique authenticity and creates a tale of intriguing mystery and romantic suspense, while introducing the reader to the contradictory and uncertain world of women’s rights in the transcendentalist era. Through the character of Abigail Taylor, Ebisch is able to capture the spirit of hard-headed realism and romantic longing common to young women of that time. Dearest David is a must-read for historical romance lovers who crave rich, evocative details, engaging characters, and sociological themes that are still relevant today.
“I have always been fascinated by Emerson and Thoreau,” said Ebisch, “and wanted to develop a story that would allow me to explore each of them at a personal level. I wrote Dearest David after creating the main character, Abigail, who moves into the Emerson household and learns much about herself as she interacts with the many complicated individuals who live there. Abigail encounters a variety of values and issues, which forces her to examine her own feelings about love, education, marriage, and being a single woman in a world that is just beginning to experience the rise of feminism. It is a complex and captivating period in time, and I enjoyed being able to discover more about it while I wrote this book.”
Glen Ebisch was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby Clifton. He received his B.A. in political science from Rutgers University, an M.A. in government from Cornell University and, after a tour of duty with the United States Army in Vietnam, he attended Columbia University where he earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy. He taught philosophy at the university level for over thirty years, and during the same period wrote over thirty novels, first for young people, then for adults. Glen is a long-time member of Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and an associate member of Sisters in Crime. He lives with his wife in western Massachusetts.
For more information on the author or Dearest David, please visit www.glenebisch.com or www.amazon.com.
1. Dearest David tells the story of a young woman, Abigail Taylor, who
leaves her family farm outside of Concord, Massachusetts, to work as a servant
in the home of Ralph Waldo Emerson. What was your inspiration for Abigail’s
story?
The inspiration came when I was
thinking about how a young woman of humble means but with a good education for
her class in society would respond to the rarified atmosphere of the Emerson
household, where talk was often considered
the equivalent of action. I thought it would be interesting to contrast her
sensible, but intelligent approach to things with the sometimes less than
practical musings of Emerson and his friends. I also thought it would be
valuable to have a woman’s insight into what was largely a man’s world, while
at the same time contrasting her with the very different figures of Lidian
Emerson and Margaret Fuller.
2. In Dearest David, Abigail falls in love with essayist Henry
David Thoreau, who is a frequent house-guest at the Emersons. How would you
describe their relationship?
For Abigail,
she falls in love with Thoreau partly as a man and partly as a representative
of an intellectual life that she finds exciting. She longs to be someone such as Margaret Fuller, but knows that
her position in society limits her to a life of physical labor. Thoreau sees
her as a friend, as someone who is fiercely independent like himself. That’s
why he finds the idea of their having a romantic relationship so unthinkable. He believes, perhaps rightly, that she has no
more need for anyone to share her life than he does.
3. Emerson’s reclusive wife,
Lidian, and the children’s governess, Ms. Ford, are also interested in Thoreau.
How does Abigail handle the conflict brought on by this three-way romantic
triangle?
She is out of her depth. Abigail
thinks that her youthful enthusiasm and affection will win Thoreau away from
Lidian, not realizing that his innocent attentions to a married woman are the
only sort of relationship that he feels completely safe with having. She also
doesn’t fully understand that Lidian’s need for Thoreau, although not romantic,
is as equally strong as her own. Although Abigail does outmaneuver Ms. Ford, it
is only at the expense of her conscience and leaves her with a strong sense of
guilt.
4. During her time at the
Emersons, Abigail meets the charismatic, feminist writer Margaret Fuller, who
provides counsel and insight on women and their role in society. What made you
decide to pursue these thematic issues in this novel?
The two themes in this novel are
the role of Transcendentalist philosophy at this point in time, and the status
of women in the early nineteenth century. Margaret Fuller did visit Emerson
often, and their relationship was close and complex. Lidian was definitely
jealous of her, and Emerson often did little to allay that fear. I wanted
Fuller in the novel as someone who could give some intellectual form to the
feelings that Abigail was having. Since the novel is written in the form of
recollections from twenty years in the future, I thought it would give the older
Abigail a chance to reflect on what she had learned since.
5. Abigail also forms an
intellectual friendship with Emerson during her time in his household. How do
his transcendentalist views on life influence her?
His doctrine of self-reliance, the
idea that everyone should develop their own ideas and not rely on established
authority, is the main notion I wanted Abigail to take away from her time in
this household. As the end of the story suggests, she lives an exciting life
after leaving Emerson, and I think much of it is due to his intellectual
influence. In some ways she lives a life of courage that Emerson only talked
about.
6. After publishing over 30 mystery novels, you wrote Dearest David, your first historical
romance. What did you learn while doing research for this novel and do you plan
to continue writing historicals?
When I visited the
Emerson house in Concord, Massachusetts and sat in Emerson’s study I really
felt as if I had entered into the fictional world of my book. This is a feeling
I had never experienced before when writing pure fiction, and it made the story
particularly intense for me. Another thing I learned is that, although we often
think of the people in the Transcendentalist circle as being emotionally cool,
they were extremely passionate not only about ideas but in many cases in their
feelings for each other.
At some point in the
future, I would like to write another historical carrying Abigail’s story on to
the next stage.
7. Are you working on a new
novel and, if so, what can you tell us about it?
I am currently working on the
second in my series of mysteries featuring Charles Bentley, a retired professor
of English, who seems to have the bad luck of stumbling across dead bodies. By
turns humorous and serious, it shows some of the challenges age brings to
solving crimes and forming relationships.
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