The Turquoise
Will be published approx. on 22. May 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
368 pages
978-1-4447-8830-3 (ISBN)
Description
The spellbinding story of a gifted woman who leaves the magic mountains of her native New Mexico for the chaotic New York of the 1870s. 'To read Seton is to enter into another time with such conviction that it seems as real as the present' (Philippa Gregory)
Santa Fe Cameron, named for the place of her birth, is the child of a Spanish mother and a Scotch father and inherited from both a high degree of psychic ability. A Native American medicine man senses this and gives the little orphan a turquoise amulet as a keepsake; this turquoise, the Navajo symbol of the spirit, dominates her life.
For Fey, life is made up of violent contrasts: the rough wagon of the young Irishman who brings her East and the scented hansom cabs and carriages waiting before her own Fifth Avenue mansion; the glittering world of the Astor family and a dreary cell in The Tombs prison.
All the rich period detail which characterises Anya Seton's novels is here, together with one of her most unusual heroines.
Santa Fe Cameron, named for the place of her birth, is the child of a Spanish mother and a Scotch father and inherited from both a high degree of psychic ability. A Native American medicine man senses this and gives the little orphan a turquoise amulet as a keepsake; this turquoise, the Navajo symbol of the spirit, dominates her life.
For Fey, life is made up of violent contrasts: the rough wagon of the young Irishman who brings her East and the scented hansom cabs and carriages waiting before her own Fifth Avenue mansion; the glittering world of the Astor family and a dreary cell in The Tombs prison.
All the rich period detail which characterises Anya Seton's novels is here, together with one of her most unusual heroines.
Reviews / Votes
Miss Seton's enthusiasm for both character and period is infectious * Daily Telegraph * Anya Seton takes us into other worlds, making us live for a few hours on a grand scale * Women's Journal * Perhaps the greatest gifts Anya Seton brings to her historical novels are the zest of her narrative, the life she breathes into the most insignificant characters, and the atmosphere of the era she evokes around them * Books and Bookmen * Wonderful historical novels -- Alison WeirMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 24 mm
Weight
250 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4447-8830-3 (9781444788303)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Anya Seton was born in New York City and grew up on her father's large estate in Cos Cob and Greenwich, Connecticut, where visiting Indians taught her Indian dancing and woodcraft. One Sioux chief called her Anutika, which means 'cloud grey eyes', a name which the family shortened to Anya. She was educated by governesses, and then travelled abroad, first to England, then to France where she hoped to become a doctor. She studied for a while at the Hotel Dieu hospital in Paris before marrying at eighteen and having three children. She began writing in 1938 with a short story sold to a newspaper syndicate and the first of her novels was published in 1941. She died in 1990.