Harriet and Isabella

"...The Beechers were a family of preachers, abolitionists, writers, and activists, and O'Brien does a fantastic job of showing just how remarkable they were....A deeply intelligent and emotionally generous look at a trial that riveted a nation and upended a family." "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." "The trial of Henry Ward Beecher and its impact provoked an earthquake in the political life the United States. Now, Patricia O'Brien has given the Beecher family its due long after the original scandal has faded away." "'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." "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." "'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 promninent 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." "Talk about 'The Trial of The Century!' Henry Beecher's had everything—sex, power, religion, fame and a family feud in what was arguably the most influential family in America. This compelling piece of American history makes for a fascinating read." "Riveting...a penetrating tale of sex and temptation and politics and family ties. History doesn't just come alive in these pages — it turns you into a front-row witness at one of the most sensational scandals of America's past." "A vivid and expert narrative of relationships set against a colorful Victorian background. An inviting oasis of fiction — if it is fiction. I hope this novel soars." "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, 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." "Patricia O'Brien's new book about Harriet Beecher Stowe and her fmaily is wonderful! A delicious historical novel whose famous characters suck you into their quotidian emotional struggles while they teach you about our American past. All in all, a banquet of delights by an elegant writer. "Patricia O'Brien's vivid, gripping novel focuses on the relationship between Harriet Beecher Stowe and her sister Isabella. But it is ceaselessly fascinating, enlightening, and thought-provoking as it takes place against the backgrounds of the suffragist and abolitionist movements, and a 19 century sex scandal. Pitting family loyalty against a devotion to truth, it's an intellectual and emotional thriller." "Smooth flashbacks carry this inventive romp through a 19th-century New England scandal...[O'Brien] takes the reader into the courtroom, a scene of such twists, betrayals and revelations that it will entertain even those who know how it ended—a tricky business since even Elizabeth, who has confessed, denied and confessed, wonders, "Which of my stories was true?" That the question remains just makes the telling juicier, and O'Brien delivers just enough history to make a reader feel virtuous while savoring the gossip." "An engaging, revelatory account of the trial of the century...The author manages to make rigid Harriet and foolhardy Isabella come off as admirable, sympathetic women trapped by the expectations of their family's role in history. This could have easily become a soapy melodrama, but O'Brien (The Glory Cloak.) smartly blends history about this fascinating family with moral questions that have no easy answers. A winning piece of historical fiction." "O'Brien (The Glory Cloak) skillfully carries readers back and forth through time and place in brief chapters that elucidate Isabella's involvement in the suffrage movement and Harriet's literary triumphs...This intriguing novel illuminates the era's political and social struggles as well as the stresses within a celebrity family. Highly recommended for fans of historical fiction, the book should also attract a broader public literary readership." "O'Brien provides an interesting new spin on an infamous nineteenth—century scandal...Authentically detailed, this finely wrought historical novel also features plenty of family drama and juicy dish. Renewed interest in the Beecher clan (The Most Famous Man in America, 2006; The Beecher Sisters, 2003) guarantees a ready—made audience for this fictional page—turner." "This novel is about our country's ideas and ideals, how we strive, incessantly, to be better than anyone else in the world, and how, sometimes spectacularly, we fail."