Most Popular Books by Ellen Douglas

“It is rare when a book this fine enters the world of contemporary American literature.” – The Boston Globe Two women share a Mississippi household for fifteen years, rolling out piecrusts and making conversation. Cornelia is rich, white, and pampered, the mistress of the house, who oversees a seemingly perfect world of smooth surfaces and stubborn silence. Tweet, her housekeeper, is a poor, black, world-weary woman with a ghost-ridden past. As the years go by, Cornelia and Tweet each endure moments of uncertainty and despair; each, in her time of need, is rescued by the other. In the footsteps of Southern writers like Peter Taylor, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O’Connor, Ellen Douglas celebrates the resiliency of the human spirit in this story of two women bound by transgression and guilt, memory and illusion, gratitude and love. “Ellen Douglas is not just one of our best Southern novelists. She is one of our best American novelists.” – The New York Times Book Review

So spontaneous is the writing in A Lifetime Burning, one might believe these are indeed words of a woman desperately trying to understand what has happened to her life, beginning with the fact that her husband has stopped sleeping with her. Why? Is there a rival—perhaps “The Toad,” the unattractive housewife next door—or someone else, who will completely surprise the reader, as do many of the events of the protagonist''s story? At age sixty-two, Corinne must grapple with the most painful truth that her lifelong passion—which is anyone''s passion, to love and be loved, body and soul—could burn unquenched forever. Her imaginative narrative even when she is lying is as revealing as bedrock truth. A Lifetime Burning is as real as life itself—a novel shimmering and vital and recognizably true. Gripping, smart, suspenseful, and at times, wonderfully witty, Douglas''s widely acclaimed book forms a searching and searing record of love, anger, confession, and discovery.

In four haunting family stories, Ellen Douglas seeks to track down the truth--about herself, about her white Mississippi forebears, about their relationships to black Mississippians, and ultimately about their guilt as murderers of helpless slaves. Progressively searching further and further back in time, each of these four family tales involves collusion and secrets. In "Grant," a randy old uncle dying in the author''s house is nursed by a beautiful black woman while his white family watches from a "respectful" distance. Who loves him better? When truth is death, who is braver facing it? In "Julia and Nellie," very close cousins make "a marriage in all but name" back in the days of easy scandal. The nature of the liaison never mentioned, the family waives its Presbyterian morality in the face of family deviance. In "Hampton," her grandmother''s servant, who has constructed a world closed to whites, evades the author''s tentative efforts at a meeting of minds. And finally, in "On Second Creek," Douglas confronts her obsession with the long-lost--or -buried--facts of the "examination and execution" of slaves who may or may not have plotted an uprising. Having published fiction for four decades, here she crosses over into the mirror world of historical fact. It''s a book, she says, "about remembering and forgetting, seeing and ignoring, lying and truth-telling." It''s about secrets, judgments, threats, danger, and willful amnesia. It''s about the truth in fiction and the fiction in "truth." Praise for Ellen Douglas: "It''s possible to think that some people were simply born to write. Ellen Douglas is just such a writer."--Richard Ford; "Proust wrote in one of his last letters, ''one must never be afraid of going too far, for the truth is beyond.'' Ellen Douglas has taken this very much to heart and has sought the truth in a region beyond falsehood; through falsehood, in effect. It''s a fascinating performance."--Shelby Foote.

This rich, leisurely tale chronicles the lives of three generations in the family of Kate Anderson, a young, genteel southern widow residing in the small Mississippi town of Homochitto. An intimate examination of the significance of family, this novel, Douglas'' first, is a statement of how people survive crises not only through their own courage but also through the support of those who cannot turn away from them. The layers of birth, childhood, courtship, marriage, illness, and death - seen through the gradually maturing eyes of Anna, Kate''s granddaughter - reveal the tapestry of shared experiences, joys, and sorrows that bond a family and build its history.

This story of the modern South, of love denied and love fulfilled, is a powerful account of the potential for violence that underlies this country''s passionate history. Ellen Douglas, a native of Mississippi and a prize-winning novelist of rare distinction, reveals the turbulent changes that rocked the South in the sixties and continue to this day. No event is predictable in this powerful novel. A young man who has spent several years in the North returns to his native Mississippi seeking rural peace. But solitude is not to be his, for soon he is caught up again in a traumatic event that happened seven years before in 1964—the death in an auto accident of the beautiful young cousin whom he loved. As the story unfolds, the people who were involved in that senseless tragedy reveal their part in it, and as they do, the reader becomes intensely involved not only in their lives but in what it means to be Black or white in the modern South.

Nat Stonebridge is a thirtyish divorcee who, because of her sexy good looks and incorruptible disregard for convention, has stayed in trouble most of her life. Stranded at home in Philippi, a small town in the Mississippi Delta, after a divorce from her well-to-do husband, she is broke, bored, and unconcerned for anyone except herself. Looking for excitement, she becomes involved with Floyd Shotwell, the strange, solitary son of a rich and ruthless businessman. By turns ironic and funny and threatening as the raw land in which it takes place, the couple''s story moves toward a violent climax in which not only Nat''s physical safety, but the financial security of her family, are at stake. Douglas explores the theme of moral commitment as Nat is confronted with a decision, a sacrifice, which she knows will earn her only contempt. In turn, her friend, the gentle and reflective Wilburn Griffith, is forced to face the obsessive Shotwell with a weapon he abhors.

Ellen Douglas Deland''s novel "A Successful Venture" offers a keen exploration of early 20th-century American society, particularly through the lens of individual aspirations amidst familial expectations. Deland employs a rich, descriptive literary style that intertwines psychological depth with social commentary, making her characters resonate with authenticity as they navigate the complexities of ambition and moral dilemmas. The narrative is punctuated by poignant moments that reflect the cultural mores of the time, illustrating the pressing conflicts between personal fulfillment and societal obligations. Ellen Douglas Deland, an influential author of her time, was deeply rooted in the literary currents that championed the introspection of character and societal critique. In her lifetime, she balanced her roles as a writer and a social reformer, which infused her narratives with a sense of urgency and relevance. Deland''s background and personal experiences undoubtedly shaped her themes, particularly her keen insight into the inner lives of women seeking autonomy in a constrained world. "A Successful Venture" is a compelling read for anyone interested in the intersection of personal ambition and social constraint. Deland''s nuanced prose not only captivates but also challenges the reader to consider the implications of success during a transformative period in American history. This novel is essential for scholars of American literature and anyone who appreciates profound character studies.

Originally created in 1726 and modified somewhat since, Windham County now occupies the northeast corner of Connecticut. This territory became known to the English at the first settlement of Connecticut in 1635-6, but was not actually settled by colonists for another half-century. The first transfer of land from its Indian proprietors to an English purchaser was in 1653. With the spread of religion among the Indians came the spread of colonization, and the development of the modern county. This volume covers the years 1740 to 1880. The section headed 1740-1775 includes material on Pomfret, Brooklyn Parish, Putnam, Malbone, Ashford, the Corbin Land Claim, Canterbury, Windham, Wyoming Emigration, Church affairs, social life, Scotland Parish, Canada Parish, school districts, Voluntown, Plainfield, Killingly, Thompson Parish, Chestnut Hill, Woodstock, troubles with Massachusetts, and more. The section headed 1764-1783 describes Windham County in the Revolution; after which the section headed 1783-1807 relates post-war progress and prosperity, politics, early newspapers, changes, turnpikes, the visit from President Washington, bridges, the Plainfield Academy, trials of Baptists, emigration to Ohio, counterfeiting, affairs in Thompson, Voluntown, Sterling and Woodstock, thief-detecting, murder, and the social condition. The section headed 1807-1820 describes the development of manufacturing and industry, in between church affairs and reports of fatal accidents, thefts and whipping, fun and fishing, and various controversies. The section headed 1820-1845 describes the courts, temperance work, an execution, schools, Canterbury in danger, Plainfield, Voluntown, Sterling, Windham, Willimantic Village, Chaplin, Hampton, Ashford, Eastford Parish, Woodstock, Thompson, Killingly and Pomfret. Finally, the section headed 1840-1880 gives the "present outlook" of many of the places above named. Four appendices supply origins of town names, the English report of Putnam''s Wolf Fight, the Battle of the Frogs, and a Relic of Slavery. The original surname index includes about 600 names.