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Durant Family Saga #1
Imaginary Brightness
"History, like love, is so apt to surround her heroes in an atmosphere of imaginary brightness." James Fenimore Cooper, Last of the Mohicans.
With characters meticulously researched from the pages of America’s post-civil war history, Sheila Myers weaves fact and fiction to vividly re-imagine the lives of the people who built this country’s infrastructure and pioneered the American wilderness. This first book of the Durant family saga tells the story of William West Durant and his sister Ella, the children of the powerful American industrialist and railroad tycoon Dr. Thomas C. Durant. William and Ella find their fortunes and reputations threatened by their father’s questionable business dealings. While the family’s fortune teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, both brother and sister are whisked from their privileged lifestyle in high society London to the untamed Adirondack forests, where the tension between passion and propriety, their future and their family, turn their worlds upside down. Imaginary Brightness explores the early conquest of the great north woods, eavesdrops on America’s robber barons from the supper clubs of Manhattan, and unravels the mystery of William West Durant’s secret passions and conflicting loyalties.
With characters meticulously researched from the pages of America’s post-civil war history, Sheila Myers weaves fact and fiction to vividly re-imagine the lives of the people who built this country’s infrastructure and pioneered the American wilderness. This first book of the Durant family saga tells the story of William West Durant and his sister Ella, the children of the powerful American industrialist and railroad tycoon Dr. Thomas C. Durant. William and Ella find their fortunes and reputations threatened by their father’s questionable business dealings. While the family’s fortune teeters on the brink of bankruptcy, both brother and sister are whisked from their privileged lifestyle in high society London to the untamed Adirondack forests, where the tension between passion and propriety, their future and their family, turn their worlds upside down. Imaginary Brightness explores the early conquest of the great north woods, eavesdrops on America’s robber barons from the supper clubs of Manhattan, and unravels the mystery of William West Durant’s secret passions and conflicting loyalties.
305 pages, Paperback
First published May 8, 2015
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675 people want to read
About the author
Sheila Myers
7 books136 followersI'm an award-winning author of historical and contemporary novels. I like to venture out into the wilderness, swim in lakes, hike in the woods and make the occasional trip to a cemetery to find inspiration. Human failures and passions are always good starting points for a plot and there is plenty of that to go around. I've been adapting my stories to screenplays, because why not? Website https://www.sheilamyers.com/
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 26, 2018
More often than not, the books that I really enjoy are the ones that I can relate to in one way or another. Sometimes it is the events, while at other times it is the location that endears me to the protagonists and their tale. In this case it was a little of both. Sheila Myers' book 'Imaginary Brightness' is set in both the past and present Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. I say past and present because though the real meat of the store is the events in the lives of the Durant Family in the late 1800s, the author ties them to the present in the form of a discovered hidden diary. In my opinion, she achieved this quite well as lose ends were tied up, but not in the hurried fashion of some who appeared rushed to meet a word count quota or a deadline.
The story starts out with the family being told that they are leaving the comfort and high society of London to travel to that god-forsaken outback in America, where they will be far from friends and creature comforts. Dr. Durant has big plans, not only for another railroad, but to acquire as much land as possible, and then develop it to be sold for profit. You have the usual cast of characters, and I found no fault with the story line or character development. As a matter of fact, being fascinated with this period of history, I was actually thrilled to read about such mundane things as taking tea in high society.
While my personal experiences were not in the locations stated, it was easy for me to relate nonetheless. While they spoke of the great forests and wildlife in the mountains, my wife and I discovered that similar things could actually exist in the state of Illinois! Leaving the crowded subdivisions with McMansions springing up like mushrooms after summer rains, we found forests and farmlands as far as the eye could see. And if you looked hard enough, you could discover an abundant wildlife far different from that of a Chicago suburb. So, in a way, we too were off for a great adventure.
In the story the family has cabins built in the wilderness. On our first trip here we stayed in state park log cabins built by the CCC in the 1930s. While we didn't have a mountain, we did have several large canyons to explore. As I read the book I kept relating it to our own experiences. In the story William sees what his father is doing with the logging and mining as raping the land. In a sense this was something else I could relate to with some of the present day factory farms, mines and quarries.
The story had some unexpected developments which added just the right touch of spice to liven up the stew. This was no bland hospital food. The one part I really liked was when Elle, who seemed self-centered at times, found out a poor girl had high hopes of getting a real job. Elle asked what she was going to wear for her interview. In embarrassment, the girl's non-verbal response was that she had nothing but the threadbare item she was wearing. Elle said that would never do and not only did she insist on the girl wearing one of her outfits, but she also wrote a fine letter of recommendation being as her father was a close business associate.
I not only enjoyed the story but all the effort that went into the research for this work. Some are gifted enough to compose a story that doesn't need to rely on facts. They blind you with imaginary brightness. I think Sheila's work was really her term paper, but don't tell anybody.
The story starts out with the family being told that they are leaving the comfort and high society of London to travel to that god-forsaken outback in America, where they will be far from friends and creature comforts. Dr. Durant has big plans, not only for another railroad, but to acquire as much land as possible, and then develop it to be sold for profit. You have the usual cast of characters, and I found no fault with the story line or character development. As a matter of fact, being fascinated with this period of history, I was actually thrilled to read about such mundane things as taking tea in high society.
While my personal experiences were not in the locations stated, it was easy for me to relate nonetheless. While they spoke of the great forests and wildlife in the mountains, my wife and I discovered that similar things could actually exist in the state of Illinois! Leaving the crowded subdivisions with McMansions springing up like mushrooms after summer rains, we found forests and farmlands as far as the eye could see. And if you looked hard enough, you could discover an abundant wildlife far different from that of a Chicago suburb. So, in a way, we too were off for a great adventure.
In the story the family has cabins built in the wilderness. On our first trip here we stayed in state park log cabins built by the CCC in the 1930s. While we didn't have a mountain, we did have several large canyons to explore. As I read the book I kept relating it to our own experiences. In the story William sees what his father is doing with the logging and mining as raping the land. In a sense this was something else I could relate to with some of the present day factory farms, mines and quarries.
The story had some unexpected developments which added just the right touch of spice to liven up the stew. This was no bland hospital food. The one part I really liked was when Elle, who seemed self-centered at times, found out a poor girl had high hopes of getting a real job. Elle asked what she was going to wear for her interview. In embarrassment, the girl's non-verbal response was that she had nothing but the threadbare item she was wearing. Elle said that would never do and not only did she insist on the girl wearing one of her outfits, but she also wrote a fine letter of recommendation being as her father was a close business associate.
I not only enjoyed the story but all the effort that went into the research for this work. Some are gifted enough to compose a story that doesn't need to rely on facts. They blind you with imaginary brightness. I think Sheila's work was really her term paper, but don't tell anybody.
August 21, 2016
I read this book because I am totally enamored with Lake Raquette and the Adirondacks in general, and wanted to learn more about the famous Durant family. As I should have suspected, there is much more tabloid-style gossip than historical fiction to this book, so I came away with little understanding beside the knowledge that it was William the son who built the lodges and camps rather than Dr. Durant the father. That part was interesting to me. It was amazing that Dr. Durant kept this project going when it seemed that the whole time he was facing bankruptcy. How he pulled this off was not really part of the story.
I wasn't terribly enamored with the rebellious daughter Ella and her failed love affair, or with William's illicit affair with Louise, the native American girl who couldn't understand why she needed to be kept secret. This was the late 1800s, after all. The author wove this story with a 20th century love affair whose tie-in (aside from the location) was a diary written by Minnie, an unrelated person who also had an affair with William and needed to be kept secret. The diary concerned events that occurred after the Louise story, so I found the juxtaposition a little awkward. It was like following three stories that never really jelled in the end. I thought the 20th century subplot was unnecessary; I would have preferred a continuation of William's story until the end, instead of rushing us through his arranged marriage and an abrupt finish; we only pick up the pieces from the diary. Still with all this being said, the book was easy to read and moved along well, so in fact it was entertaining.
I wasn't terribly enamored with the rebellious daughter Ella and her failed love affair, or with William's illicit affair with Louise, the native American girl who couldn't understand why she needed to be kept secret. This was the late 1800s, after all. The author wove this story with a 20th century love affair whose tie-in (aside from the location) was a diary written by Minnie, an unrelated person who also had an affair with William and needed to be kept secret. The diary concerned events that occurred after the Louise story, so I found the juxtaposition a little awkward. It was like following three stories that never really jelled in the end. I thought the 20th century subplot was unnecessary; I would have preferred a continuation of William's story until the end, instead of rushing us through his arranged marriage and an abrupt finish; we only pick up the pieces from the diary. Still with all this being said, the book was easy to read and moved along well, so in fact it was entertaining.
August 28, 2015
An insight into the Durant Family.
I bought this book at the General Store in Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks in July ,2015. I will turn 90 in November and my 4 children decided to each spend a week with me at our cabin on the Raquette River near Tupper Lake that was built in 1971 but not completely finished. As a young Family we had enjoyed Camping at Eighth Lake,Golden Beach,Corey's at Indian Carry with the Whittum Family at Camp Hiawatha. We spent many hours visiting the Great Camps with Adirondack Discovery Group and spent many a Sunday morning at Chapel Island Services where I once replaced the church Bell with my rendition of Amazing Grace on the Bagpipes ! Over the years I got to know the operators of Camp Sagamore,the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain,the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum at Saranac Lake and witnessed the American defeat of the Russian Hockey team at the last Olympics in Lake Placid. All this explains my keen interest in the area.
I was struck by the author's use of time shifting from the 1800's to almost the present to elucidate an issue and the use of an old Diary to fill in some myths that had grown over the years.She has a gift in unravelling complicated personalities. I was very fortunate to meet her in person at the recent Book Fair at Hoss's in Long Lake. If you want answers to questions dealing with WW Durant, this is the book for you ! P.J.Maloney
I bought this book at the General Store in Raquette Lake in the Adirondacks in July ,2015. I will turn 90 in November and my 4 children decided to each spend a week with me at our cabin on the Raquette River near Tupper Lake that was built in 1971 but not completely finished. As a young Family we had enjoyed Camping at Eighth Lake,Golden Beach,Corey's at Indian Carry with the Whittum Family at Camp Hiawatha. We spent many hours visiting the Great Camps with Adirondack Discovery Group and spent many a Sunday morning at Chapel Island Services where I once replaced the church Bell with my rendition of Amazing Grace on the Bagpipes ! Over the years I got to know the operators of Camp Sagamore,the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain,the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum at Saranac Lake and witnessed the American defeat of the Russian Hockey team at the last Olympics in Lake Placid. All this explains my keen interest in the area.
I was struck by the author's use of time shifting from the 1800's to almost the present to elucidate an issue and the use of an old Diary to fill in some myths that had grown over the years.She has a gift in unravelling complicated personalities. I was very fortunate to meet her in person at the recent Book Fair at Hoss's in Long Lake. If you want answers to questions dealing with WW Durant, this is the book for you ! P.J.Maloney
September 25, 2019
I enjoyed this book about the Durant family in the Adirondacks. I stayed at the great camp North of Inlet and it brought all of Ms. Myer's writing to life. Very interesting and a fast read.
July 9, 2015
This book is so full of tasty tidbits; I don’t know where to start. It’s an historical fiction in which the author adeptly juxtaposes two very interesting tales. In one, she shows the saga of Thomas Durant’s children, Ella and William, as their father unscrupulously uses the land in the Adirondack Mountains of New York during the late 1800s to amass the family wealth. The other is a modern love story, more than a hundred years later, between twenty-eight-year-old researcher, Avery, studying the habits of the owl in that same area and Jake, an inhabitant of the area.
Both accounts as Myers switches between present and past, keep the reader riveted to the pages. I love how Meyers uses the owl research to symbolize Avery’s relationship with Jake, specifically the one male owl that she seems unable to catch and tag. A more overt example is when Avery responds to a question about her research by saying, “I’m trying to discover why males of the species are so hard to track.” Also, within the 1800s account, there is the underlying theme of profit versus preservation as Myers' characters describe Durant’s intentions by saying that he is going to “rape the Adirondack wilderness and bring crystal and fine china to the woods,” while at the same time, the government is being lobbied by others to preserve that land, and Myers interjects with the timeless frustration of people against power: “the unappreciative idiots in Albany have no idea . . . of the vast resources this region has to offer. ”
Myers also cleverly but subtly shows the clash of culture between the natives of the region and the aristocracy that will vacation there. In one example, William stops local boys from hunting in a way that he feels is unfair to the game and berates them asking what kind of sport would allow the game to be so unfairly challenged. The local boy responds, “ We ain’t doing it for sport sir. We’re doing it to feed our family.”
In addition to a wonderful story that keeps the reader engaged and unable to put the book down, Myers has some very nice imagery, such as “the sleigh slogged along, crushing the snow with a sound like thousands of eggshells breaking in its wake.”
The only complaint I have—and it’s a small one—is that the mystery behind the old diary belonging to someone named Minnie, that Avery finds and strings the reader along with its writer’s excerpts, is resolved too fast and simplistically. I wanted Minnie to have some kind of meaningful self-discovery. However, the overall story is very good and I recommend it wholeheartedly. It is a tale in which you will find yourself gasping in alarm at the unexpected turns in the story and you will miss the characters when they are gone.
Both accounts as Myers switches between present and past, keep the reader riveted to the pages. I love how Meyers uses the owl research to symbolize Avery’s relationship with Jake, specifically the one male owl that she seems unable to catch and tag. A more overt example is when Avery responds to a question about her research by saying, “I’m trying to discover why males of the species are so hard to track.” Also, within the 1800s account, there is the underlying theme of profit versus preservation as Myers' characters describe Durant’s intentions by saying that he is going to “rape the Adirondack wilderness and bring crystal and fine china to the woods,” while at the same time, the government is being lobbied by others to preserve that land, and Myers interjects with the timeless frustration of people against power: “the unappreciative idiots in Albany have no idea . . . of the vast resources this region has to offer. ”
Myers also cleverly but subtly shows the clash of culture between the natives of the region and the aristocracy that will vacation there. In one example, William stops local boys from hunting in a way that he feels is unfair to the game and berates them asking what kind of sport would allow the game to be so unfairly challenged. The local boy responds, “ We ain’t doing it for sport sir. We’re doing it to feed our family.”
In addition to a wonderful story that keeps the reader engaged and unable to put the book down, Myers has some very nice imagery, such as “the sleigh slogged along, crushing the snow with a sound like thousands of eggshells breaking in its wake.”
The only complaint I have—and it’s a small one—is that the mystery behind the old diary belonging to someone named Minnie, that Avery finds and strings the reader along with its writer’s excerpts, is resolved too fast and simplistically. I wanted Minnie to have some kind of meaningful self-discovery. However, the overall story is very good and I recommend it wholeheartedly. It is a tale in which you will find yourself gasping in alarm at the unexpected turns in the story and you will miss the characters when they are gone.
July 22, 2015
Wonderfully done historical novel about the Durant family and their life in the Adirondacks alternating with a modern story about the same location. The author does a great job of weaving past and present together to create an engaging and entertaining story.
October 20, 2022
Nice job of filling in possible events
Enjoyed the story. It was a great bit of imagination to make the story fit th
e happenings of that time in history
Enjoyed the story. It was a great bit of imagination to make the story fit th
e happenings of that time in history
April 29, 2024
not as expected
I felt the story drug out without having a point. I expected more depth with events. More drama, romance etc
I felt the story drug out without having a point. I expected more depth with events. More drama, romance etc
May 10, 2021
This book is a little confusing going back and forth, but this is the Durant family. Dr Durant and Hannah parents of William and Ella, Williams lover is Louise now died. Ella was in a relationship with poultice Bigeliow. She joined the nuns convent. William is Approached by his mother to marry Janet. Mini diary has been read and now buried. There is a second book 📚
August 16, 2015
Disclosure: I won a free copy of this book from a goodreads giveaway. Hooray!!
Imaginary Brightness by Sheila Myers tells the story of William Durant, the wealthy son of a railroad tycoon. His father wants to establish a new line in the Adirondacks even though the area is largely unsettled, except by a few Native Americans and rough mountain men. William must move to this wilderness and build a luxury base camp so his father can entertain investors and attract new settlers.
Going into this book, I had never heard of the Great Camps of upstate New York or the Durant family. It's a fascinating slice of history! (Seriously, go to Wikipedia right now!)
So why only two stars? Part I was nothing but backstory, and I just hated it. It seemed like the author was still trying to figure out who her characters were and what story she wanted to tell. Myers clearly has talent, and once we meet Avery and the story moves to the Adirondacks, this talent shines through. Honestly, I would have really liked this book if Part I was hacked off.
I recommend this book, but only if you start on Part II.
Imaginary Brightness by Sheila Myers tells the story of William Durant, the wealthy son of a railroad tycoon. His father wants to establish a new line in the Adirondacks even though the area is largely unsettled, except by a few Native Americans and rough mountain men. William must move to this wilderness and build a luxury base camp so his father can entertain investors and attract new settlers.
Going into this book, I had never heard of the Great Camps of upstate New York or the Durant family. It's a fascinating slice of history! (Seriously, go to Wikipedia right now!)
So why only two stars? Part I was nothing but backstory, and I just hated it. It seemed like the author was still trying to figure out who her characters were and what story she wanted to tell. Myers clearly has talent, and once we meet Avery and the story moves to the Adirondacks, this talent shines through. Honestly, I would have really liked this book if Part I was hacked off.
I recommend this book, but only if you start on Part II.
August 21, 2019
All three of Ms. Myers books on the Durant family are amazing! Each one is written in a different style/POV. This one starts the saga in 1873; we meet the Durants and learn who they are, their place in history. It interestingly jumps between centuries - 1870s to 2010, adding an interesting twist to the plot and taking some poetic license to fill in holes in the history of the real Durant family. I LOVED her depiction of the Iroquois who were an indelible part of this region. I was devastated when Louise....well, never mind, you'll have to read if for yourself!
January 3, 2016
Adirondacks at it's best.
Always history of any area is fun to read about. But in the stomping grounds of James Fenmore Cooper. Made this a must read . Great characters in this tale . Of families trying trying to build empires. I didn't care for past and current storylines. But well worth reading. You can judge your self.
Always history of any area is fun to read about. But in the stomping grounds of James Fenmore Cooper. Made this a must read . Great characters in this tale . Of families trying trying to build empires. I didn't care for past and current storylines. But well worth reading. You can judge your self.
December 1, 2016
It took me quite a long time to read this book. I wanted to like it more than I did. But it just didn't have the pace I like. It dragged in parts and some of it was just simply boring. I liked the diary excerpts but could've done without the present day story line.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews