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A Novel – A Heart-Wrenching Historical Drama Set Against the Great Fire of 1846
by Julie Gerstenblatt
Set against Nantucket's Great Fire of 1846, this sweeping, emotional novel brings together three courageous women battling to save everything they hold dear…
Nantucket in 1846 is an island set apart not just by its geography but by its unique circumstances. With their menfolk away at sea, often for years at a time, women here know a rare independence—and the challenges that go with it.
Eliza Macy is struggling to conceal her financial trouble as she waits for her whaling captain husband to return from a voyage. In desperation, she turns against her progressive ideals and targets Meg Wright, a pregnant free Black woman trying to relocate her store to Main Street. Meanwhile, astronomer Maria Mitchell loves running Nantucket's Atheneum and spending her nights observing the stars, yet she fears revealing the secret wishes of her heart.
On a sweltering July night, a massive fire breaks out in town, quickly kindled by the densely packed wooden buildings. With everything they possess now threatened, these three very different women are forced to reevaluate their priorities and decide what to save, what to let go and what kind of life to rebuild from the ashes of the past.
"Gerstenblatt's distinctive tale, a triumph in storytelling, celebrates the courage and tenacity of women." —Booklist (starred review)
"Julie Gerstenblatt's splendid debut Daughters of Nantucket is page turning historical fiction. Written with heart and affection for the island and its people, this novel is for readers who long for home and the stories that make history." —Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The Good Left Undone
"Vibrates with fascinating history, evocative setting and one of the more colorful casts of characters in recent literature. A novel to be both savoured and raced through, and the kind of book that makes reading such a joy." —Natalie Jenner, internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society & Bloomsbury Girls
This information about Daughters of Nantucket was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, as well as a producer and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart shichon poo. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel.
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