After her lover of thirty years dies, a Boston woman opens a bookstore for her neighborhood, an endeavor that forces her to confront her past while she rebuilds her futureOver the course of their thirty-year relationship, Vicky and Harriet fell into a predictable cadence: Vicky took the lead while Harriet was content to follow. When Vicky dies, Harriet is lost and in search of an identity that was subsumed by that of her partner for three decades. Lying awake in bed...

May Sarton's celebrated novel of family, philosophy, and survival, set between the two great wars that cleaved Europe in twoIn the wake of the First World War, life for the Duchesnes goes on almost as it always has. Situated near a vegetable garden, an orchard, and rolling green pastures, their Belgian estate is one of the few that escaped dereliction in the difficult preceding years.The garden is Mélanie Duchesne's lifeblood—a boost to her seemingly unendin...

May Sarton's parrot chatters away as Sarton looks out the window at the rain and contemplates returning to her "real" life—not friends, not even love, but writing. In her bravest and most revealing memoir, Sarton casts her keenly observant eye on both the interior and exterior worlds. She shares insights about everyday life in the quiet New Hampshire village of Nelson, the desire for friends, and need for solitude—both an exhilarating and terrifying state. She likens writing to "cracking o...

The author's tribute to the 18th-century New England farmhouse she called home: "[A] tender and often poignant book by a woman of many insights" ( The New York Times Book Review).In Plant Dreaming Deep, Sarton shares an intensely personal account of transforming a house into a home. She begins with an introduction to the enchanting village of Nelson, where she first meets her house. Sarton finds she must "dream the house alive" inside herself befor...

Now in one volume: Three exquisite meditations on nature, healing, and the pleasures of the solitary life from a New York Times –bestselling author.In a long life spent recording her personal observations, poet, novelist, and memoirist May Sarton redefined the journal as a literary form. This extraordinary volume collects three of her most beloved works.Journal of a Solitude: Sarton's bestselling memoir ch...

The author and poet's graceful elegy about life, love, work, and growing older: "The most moving and the most thoughtful [of her] journal-memoirs" ( The Plain Dealer, Cleveland).When May Sarton uprooted her life after fifteen years in the refurbished New Hampshire house with the garden she tended so lovingly, she relied solely on instinct. And something told her it was time to move on. Accompanied by her wild cat, Bramble, and Tamas, a Shetland shepherd pup...

Winner of the American Book Award: May Sarton's honest and engrossing journal of her seventieth year, spent living and working on the Maine coast.May Sarton's journals are a captivating look at a rich artistic life. In this, her ode to aging, she savors the daily pleasures of tending to her garden, caring for her dogs, and entertaining guests at her beloved Maine home by the sea. Her reminiscences are raw, and her observations are infused with the poetic candor for ...

Sarton's most important novel tells the story of a poet in her seventies, whose life is retold episodically during an interview with two writers from a literary magazineHilary Stevens's prolific career includes a provocative novel that shot her into the public consciousness years ago, and an oeuvre of poetry that more recently has consigned her to near-obscurity. Now in the twilight of her life, Hilary, who is both a feminist and a lesbian, is receiving renewed atte...

The bestselling feminist author's "lyrical, candid, sensitive" account of her efforts to regain her health, art, and sense of self after a stroke ( Publishers Weekly).Feeling cut off and isolated—from herself most of all—after suffering a stroke at age 73, May Sarton began a journal that helped her along the road to recovery. She wrote every day without fail, even if illness sometimes prevented her from penning more than a few lines.From her sprawli...

In May Sarton's seventeenth and final collection of poetry, the writer reflects on life, aging, and mortalityComing into Eighty presents a poet's look at age. Herein, Sarton gives readers a glimpse into her quotidian tasks, her memories, her losses, and her triumphs. The volume explores topics ranging from the war in Iraq to the struggle of taking a cat to the vet. Dark and immediate, this work catalogues both the tedium and the splendor of life with equal...

The poetic tale of a fleeting love affairIn her sixty years in literature, May Sarton has taken her readers through all of her emotions and pushed us to explore new places within ourselves. But her feelings are never more raw or exposed than in Letters from Maine.The rugged coast provides a stark background for Sarton's images of a tragically brief and newfound love. She describes the willingness to give anything and devote everything to a new love,...

A Harvard grad student falls in love with an older woman in this beautifully written novel set in ParisFrancis Chabrier is a 26-year-old graduate student still looking for direction when his mother dies. The reverberations of her sudden demise are deeply felt within her family circle and in the lives of her friends. Francis's stepfather, Alan, is devastated—but Francis only feels angry and adrift. Everyone expects him to marry his childhood friend Ann. Instead, he l...