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Norwood
North and South collide in the only novel written by celebrity minister Henry Ward Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe).
Beginning in the decades just before the Civil War, the novel follows the lives of a Massachusetts girl and boy into the first years of the conflict. Abraham Lincoln makes a cameo appearance; the Battle of Gettysburg is a turning point for Beecher's characters.
Norwood is part romance, part description of a stereotypical New England, and part exploration of philosophy and religion. In its time, the novel was a sensation and a center of controversy.
This digital edition was transcribed from a first-edition copy; it includes a tiny introduction and a selection of 19th-century reviews of the novel.
Beginning in the decades just before the Civil War, the novel follows the lives of a Massachusetts girl and boy into the first years of the conflict. Abraham Lincoln makes a cameo appearance; the Battle of Gettysburg is a turning point for Beecher's characters.
Norwood is part romance, part description of a stereotypical New England, and part exploration of philosophy and religion. In its time, the novel was a sensation and a center of controversy.
This digital edition was transcribed from a first-edition copy; it includes a tiny introduction and a selection of 19th-century reviews of the novel.
564 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 1989
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24 people want to read
About the author
Henry Ward Beecher
832 books37 followersLyman Beecher, fathered Catharine Esther Beecher, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, a famous clergyman and newspaper editor for his abolitionist orations, and Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe.
Henry Ward Beecher, a prominent American, theologically liberal Congregationalist, and social reformer, spoke in the mid to late 19th century.
People accused him of adultery, an affair with a married woman, in one most famous American trial of 1875.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_W...
Henry Ward Beecher, a prominent American, theologically liberal Congregationalist, and social reformer, spoke in the mid to late 19th century.
People accused him of adultery, an affair with a married woman, in one most famous American trial of 1875.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_W...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 4, 2011
I found this gem several decades ago and fell in love with the little brown book with dogwood blossoms stamped on the cover. It is a warm and loving depiction of life in a small New England town following the Civil War. It has been almost twenty years since I last read it, but it is one of those books that has found it's way to one of my list to save in the event of evacuating the planet. I wonder if anyone else out there has read it?
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December 15, 2018It's long. It's practically plotless. It's a tough slog. But Henry Ward Beecher was hugely important in his time. Mentions of the book in newspapers, etc., of the time seesaw between admiring the book and being sarcastic about it. It's certainly not for everyone.
August 31, 2015
A beautiful and thought-provoking story of coming of age in Civil War America.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews