Fire and Roses
The Burning of the Charlestown Convent, 1834
Nancy Lusignan Schultz(Author)
The Free Press
Published on 17. October 2000
Book
Other book format
288 pages
978-0-684-85685-8 (ISBN)
Description
From its founding in 1826, the convent on Mt Benedict had been roumoured to conceal physical and sexual abuse of nuns and female boarding students within its walls. In 1832 Rebecca Theresa Reed allegedly escaped and wrote a tale of women held against their will and subjected to cruel treatment by convent authorities. A series of anti-Catholic lectures by the Reverend Lyman Beecher stoked existing fears of a papal plot and these lectures eventually lead to a riot during which a drunken mob burnt the convent to the ground. The arsonists' ringleader became a local folk hero. Based on years of research this book offers a tale of violence and redemption, from an era when anit-papist diatribes were the stuff of standing-room only lectures; independent women were feared and reviled; and a new nation was struggling with its own identity.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Simon & Schuster
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
16 pp b&w photographs
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Weight
571 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-684-85685-8 (9780684856858)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
10/2000
1st Edition
Free Press
€5.92
Available for download
Person
Author
Professor and Co-ordinator, Graduate Studies in English, Salem State College, Salem, USA