Emily Hudson
A Novel
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Based on an episode in Henry James's life, the captivating story of a young heroine with ambitions and desires beyond her time.
By the start of the Civil War, Emily Hudson has lost her entire family to consumption. Wholly dependent upon her puritanical uncle, Emily forms a close bond with her ailing cousin, William, an ambitious young writer. When a promising engagement is broken, William, obsessed by Emily's spirit and beauty, becomes her patron and takes her to England-only to manipulate and neglect her for the sake of his own creativity. There, Emily finally spurns her cousin's rules and sets out alone to pursue an artist's life in the eternal city of Rome. Reminiscent of the novels of Edith Wharton and the films of Merchant Ivory, Emily Hudson will resonate with anyone who has ever sought to be true to herself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sinister events conspire to defeat spirited 19-year-old Emily Hudson in Jones's (Cold in Earth) successful historical. Orphaned and kicked out of boarding school in Rochester, N.Y., for dubious behavior, Emily is sent to her joyless uncle and his equally somber family; only the solicitous attentions of her cousin William, an aspiring novelist, salvage her spirit. While the Civil War rages, Emily hopes for a marriage to wealthy Capt. James Lindsay, but must settle for William's offer to take her to London, where he plans to become a man of letters. The intricacies of navigating English social mores leave the carefree Emily at a loss. Her American ways attract the attention of the charismatic but married Lord Firle, whose reputation is likely to ruin Emily's and William's standing in society. Forbidden to see Lord Firle, Emily withers under William's increasing disapproval and soon becomes seriously ill with consumption. Emily's interactions with William are creepy fun as they toe the line between familial and incestuous affection. Jones skillfully moves her heroine from freewheeling and childlike to cautious and deceptive and back again, and when the happy ending comes, it feels organic and hard-won.