Best Selling Books by Anya Seton

John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, Chaucer''s sister-in-law, fall in love in the 14th century.

In this historical novel by the author of Green Darkness, Theodosia''s romantic life is controlled by her domineering father, the infamous Aaron Burr. Anya Seton''s best-selling first novel, originally published in 1941, captures all the drama of the short life of Theodosia Burr (1783–1813). Her father, Aaron—Thomas Jefferson''s vice president, most famous for his great duel with Alexander Hamilton—holds sway over young Theodosia''s heart. But his arrogance forces her to choose between the man he insists she marry and her love for a young soldier who will turn out to play a decisive role in her father''s fate. Persuaded by Aaron that through his treasonable plans she will soon be crowned princess of the Kingdom of Mexico, she is received like royalty on Blennerhassett Island, only to end up trying to exonerate her father as he awaits trial in a Richmond jail, repudiated by his fickle son-in-law and friends. Theodosia remains a haunting figure in American history, still lovely, still imperious, never vanquished. "Anya Seton''s portraits of Aaron and Theodosia Burr alike are vivid and credible...The narrative is well sustained, and provides as background an entertaining account of the manners, the ways of living and traveling and entertaining followed during the early years of the nineteenth century."— New York Times

“A true story fictionalized by a writer who has a special feeling for the dramatic . . . Mixed by Miss Seton’s skillful hands, the dust of the past becomes the clay of the artist and is molded into memorable, lifelike form.” —Chicago Tribune This fiercely beautiful novel tells the true story of Charles Radcliffe, a Catholic nobleman who joined the short-lived Jacobite rebellion of 1715, and of Jenny, his daughter by a secret marriage. Set in the Northumbrian wilds, teeming London, and colonial Virginia—where Jenny eventually settled on the estate of the famous William Byrd of Westover—Jenny’s story reveals one young woman’s loyalty, passion, and courage as she struggles in a life divided between the Old World and the New. Miss Seton''s narrative is richly buttressed with the results of scrupulous research on the personages and the period. Her sole purpose is to tell a rousing good tale plainly and simply and this she does admirably." —New York Herald Tribune

The theme of this book is reincarnation, an attempt to show the interplay the law of cause and effect, good and evil, among certain individual souls in two periods of English history. Green Darkness is the story of a great love, a love in which mysticism, suspense, and mystery form a web of good and evil forces that stretches from Tudor England to the England of the twentieth century. The marriage of the Englishman Richard Marsdon and his young American wife, Celia, slowly turns tragic as Richard withdraws into himself and Celia suffers a debilitating emotional breakdown. A wise mystic realizes that Celia can escape her past only by reliving it. She journeys back four hundred years to her former life as the servant girl Celia de Bohun during the reign of Edward VI and to her doomed love affair with the chaplain Stephen Marsdon. Although Celia and Stephen can t escape the horrifying consequences of their love, fate (and time) offer them another chance for redemption. Anya Seton (1904 1990) was the author of many best-selling historical novels, including Katherine, The Winthrop Woman, Avalon, Dragonwyck, Devil Water, and Foxfire. She lived in Greenwich, Connecticut. "

Colonial America holds friendship, hardship, and love for a bold woman in this classic historical romance from the bestselling author of Green Darkness. In 1631 Elizabeth Winthrop, newly widowed with an infant daughter, set sail for the New World. Against a background of rigidity and conformity she dared to befriend Anne Hutchinson at the moment of her banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony; dared to challenge a determined army captain bent on the massacre of her friends the Siwanoy Indians; and, above all, dared to love a man as her heart and her whole being commanded. And so, as a response to this almost unmatched courage and vitality, Governor John Winthrop came to refer to this woman in the historical records of the time as his "unregenerate niece." Anya Seton''s riveting historical novel portrays the fortitude, humiliation, and ultimate triumph of the Winthrop woman, who believed in a concept of happiness transcending that of her own day. " The Winthrop Woman is that rare literary accomplishment—living history. Really good fictionalized history [like this] often gives closer reality to a period than do factual records."— Chicago Tribune "A rich and panoramic narrative full of gusto, sentimentality and compassion. It is bound to give much enjoyment and a good many thrills."— Times Literary Supplement (UK) "Abundant and juicy entertainment."— New York Times

A novel of seduction, mystery, and danger set in New York''s Hudson Valley in the nineteenth century, by the author of Foxfire. There was, on the Hudson, a way of life such as this, and there was a house not unlike Dragonwyck . . . In the spring of 1844, the Wells family receives a letter from a distant relative, the wealthy landowner Nicholas Van Ryn. He has invited one of their daughters for an extended visit at his Hudson Valley estate, Dragonwyck. Eighteen-year-old Miranda, bored with her local suitors and commonplace life on the farm, leaps at the chance for an escape. She immediately falls under the spell of both the master and his mansion, mesmerized by the Gothic towers, flowering gardens, and luxurious lifestyle—but unaware of the dark, terrible secrets that await. Anya Seton masterfully tells the heart-stopping story of a remarkable woman, her remarkable passions, and the mystery that resides in the magnificent hallways of Dragonwyck.

A saga set in the coastal town of Marblehead, Massachussetts, by the New York Times–bestselling author of Katherine and other acclaimed historical novels. Inspired by research into her own family history, novelist Anya Seton created this compelling tale of New England, set in a "sea-girdled town of rocks and winding lanes and clustered old houses." It is not only the story of Marblehead dating back to its earliest settlement, and of a family who stayed there in the Hearth and Eagle Inn; it is also the story of Hesper Honeywood, a passionate young woman whose long and dramatic life, full of triumph and tragedy, was interwoven with the history of both. "Miss Seton handles her clan cleverly. . . . In all this the house itself stands as an eloquent reminder of Yankee staunchness." — Saturday Review of Literature "Skillfully weaves the events of the time . . . an excellent read." — The Historical Novels Review

A novel of England during the Viking era, from an author who "has vividly and colorfully portrayed life during the tumultuous Dark Ages" (Historical Novels Review). The last quarter of the tenth century was a time of conflict and exploration—while the Anglo-Saxons fought against the Vikings, Norsemen voyaged into the unknown looking for new lands to pillage, and so discovered America. Prince Rumon of France, descendant of Charlemagne and King Alfred, was a searcher. He had visions of the Islands of the Blessed, perhaps King Arthur''s Avalon, "where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow." Merewyn grew up in savage Cornwall—a lonely girl, sustained by stubborn courage and belief in her descent from great King Arthur. Chance—or fate—in the form of a shipwreck off the Cornish coast brought Rumon and Merewyn together, and from that hour their lives were intertwined. Bound by his vow to her dying mother, Rumon brings Merewyn safely to England, keeping hidden the shameful secret of her birth. He considers his responsibility ended. At court, he is dazzled by the beautiful Queen Alfrida—but when a murderous truth is revealed, he turns to Merewyn, only to discover that he may have lost her. And he will journey across the Atlantic to find her again . . . From the beloved bestselling author of Katherine and Dragonwyck, this is a romantic tale of history and adventure "characterized by an authentic sense of time" ( The New York Times Book Review).

A novel of a girl''s journey from an orphaned childhood in New Mexico to an opulent life in Gilded Age New York, by the author of Avalon. In 1850, as her mother lay dying and a priest stood by, Santa Fe Cameron was named by her Scottish father after the town in which she had just been born. At seven years old, she would also lose her father. Shortly thereafter, a Navajo shaman recognized psychic power in the orphan girl, and gave her a turquoise pendant as a keepsake. This turquoise, the Indian symbol of the spirit, will dominate her life—even after she leaves the simple beauty of her native New Mexico to search for happiness in the glamorous New York of the 1870s. For "Fey," life is made up of violent contrasts: the rough wagon that brings her East and the scented carriages waiting before her own Fifth Avenue mansion; the glittering world of the Astors and a dreary cell in the Tombs. Filled with color, excitement, and rich period detail, and starring an unforgettable heroine, this is a stirring historical saga from the author of Katherine, Foxfire, and many other novels. "Seton, at her best, has a gaudy vitality all her own, and a sure sense of theatre. This reader for one enjoyed The Turquoise enormously." — The New York Times "With accurate historical background, Anya Seton has constructed a touchingly tragic story of a girl who tried so hard to find happiness that she lost everything in her search. The life of Santa Fe Cameron lingers long in memory." — Springfield Republican

Anya Seton’s Foxfire makes the desert Southwest of the Great Depression come alive in all its rich strangeness and passion-filled glory. Amanda Lawrence, a charming, sheltered New York socialite, falls in love with Jonathan Dartland, a part-Apache mining engineer who belongs to the vastness of the Arizona desert. Amanda responds to his strength and self-reliance, but has nothing and nobody to guide her when she follows him to the grim town of Lodestone. “Not many authors succeed so well as Mrs. Seton in combining adventure and romance in a modern setting. Above all it is the driving and relentless pursuit of a treasure which keeps the people and the episodes at pitch throughout.” — Library Journal

Biographical novel of Elizabeth Winthrop, a courageous woman who defied Puritan conventions and beliefs