THE HEARTH AND EAGLE

by Anya Seton ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 19, 1948

Marblehead is the real proponent of this novel which spans its history in the story of a family, the Honeywoods. Actually, one questions whether much is added by the flashback to the founding of Marblehead by Mark Honeywood, turning his back on the pettiness, the misery of Salem, and his bride, Phebe, homesick for her home in England. And yet there is something of Phebe's courage in the story of her descendant, Hesper- and the old Inn which still flaunts the sign of The Hearth and Eagle which is symbolic of what Marblehead means to its native sons and daughters. A more ambitious novel than its predecessors,-Dragonwyck and The Turquoise -- it seems derivative, imitative, and too dependent on the panoply of history and the changing scene over a long life than on the significance of characterization. Hesper emerges as a figure on which the story is draped,- her three men, the boy she grew up loving, Johnny, killed in the Civil War; Evan, the artist, who married her but could not bear the chains; Amos, always an outlander, who gave her a measure of serenity; and always the Inn as security, even when threatened by the suspicion of the slave catcher (the best scene in the story) -- or the violence of the labor agitators. Literary Guild selection for December will augment the interest in Anya Seton's new novel.

Pub Date: Nov. 19, 1948

ISBN: 1556527322

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1948

Categories: FICTION