Rowing One’s Way into New England Fiction

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My daughter’s boat, left, racing on the Charles River earlier today. (Photo by me.)

This week’s blog post is late because my wife Laurel and I took a car trip from New Jersey to the Boston area to see our teen daughter Maria compete with her Montclair High School crew team in the huge “Head of the Charles” regatta on October 22.

So, naturally I thought about fiction I’ve read set in New England — a beautiful area of the United States with a long history as well as interesting cities and towns.

The work of Nathaniel Hawthorne immediately came to mind. Until his Italy-placed final novel The Marble Faun, most of that author’s books and short stories featured New England milieus. The best-known, of course, being The Scarlet Letter — the classic that unfolds in 17th-century Massachusetts. His novels The House of the Seven Gables and The Blithedale Romance are also set in The Bay State.

Hawthorne’s friend Herman Melville had the Pequod ship in Moby-Dick sail from Nantucket, Mass., after some pre-sea chapters on land. Melville wrote his masterpiece in Pittsfield, Mass., where a mountain (Mount Greylock) seen from his desk has sort of a whale shape. I looked out that window myself during a visit to Melville’s house nearly 20 years ago.

Another renowned 19th-century author, Louisa May Alcott, made the March family in Little Women residents of Concord, Mass.

Before going any further, I have to mention that Stephen King places a LOT of his page-turning fiction in Maine. Too many novels to list. 🙂

One of King’s influences, Shirley Jackson, put her chilling short story “The Lottery” in Vermont, where her novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle is also set. And the dwelling that dominates her most famous novel, The Haunting of Hill House, might be in New England — though that’s not specified.

John Irving’s canon also often has a New England flair — with, for instance, The Cider House Rules set in Maine, A Prayer for Owen Meany set in New Hampshire, and The Hotel New Hampshire set in…well, I’ll let you figure that out. 🙂

Edith Wharton placed several of her best-known novels in high-society locales in and near New York City, but a notable exception was Ethan Frome, which has a Massachusetts milieu.

Then there’s Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, though most of that novel goes way back in the past to England. (Twain lived much of his adult life in Connecticut.) Another late-19th-century-written time-travel classic, Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward, is set in Boston in both the 1800s and the year 2000.

Boston is also the city for Esther Forbes’ young-adult novel Johnny Tremain, starring a 1770s teen in American Revolution times.

And…ahem…The Bostonians by Henry James.

Other works set or partly set in New England? Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Richard Russo’s Empire Falls, Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, Anita Shreve’s The Weight of Water, Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, Erich Segal’s Love Story, and Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River, to name a few.

Any fiction with New England settings you’d like to mention?

My literary-trivia book is described and can be purchased here: Fascinating Facts About Famous Fiction Authors and the Greatest Novels of All Time.

In addition to this weekly blog, I write the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Baristanet.com, which has merged with Montclair Local. The latest piece — about a high-profile councilor who resigned and the contentious vote for his replacement — is here.

82 thoughts on “Rowing One’s Way into New England Fiction”

  3. Hi Dave,

    Stephen King wrote “Rage” under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Set in a Maine high school, it’s about a student who goes a bit off the rails and takes his class hostage and kills a couple of teachers. It’s not a bad book. Not King’s best, but it’s an interesting look into the mind of a teenager who just couldn’t connect with anyone. Sadly, through the 1990s there were a few school shootings that may have had connections with the story. Though the story obviously can’t be blamed, Stephen King was happy for the book to fall out of print, and new copies of “The Bachman Books” omnibus don’t include this novella. Given King’s abhorrence of gun violence, he must feel sick about what happened in his home state last week.

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    • Thank you, Susan! Even less-than-terrific Stephen King books can be good. “Rage” does sound fraught, though it was indeed published long before school shootings tragically became a much more frequent occurrence — especially in the violence-plagued United States. And, yes, King and others undoubtedly feel distraught about the gun massacre that just happened in Maine — and about how right-wing U.S. politicians will do absolutely nothing to prevent similar happenings in the future. 😦

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  4. Although not a fiction author, I have to mention one of Massachusetts most well known writers, Emily Dickinson. I think there was a stage play about her life performed by Julie Harris called The Belle Of Amherst. And since we are close to Halloween, John Updike’s book Witches Of Eastwick, locale Eastwick, Rhode Island. Love the pic of your daughter’s boat race, did her team win? BTW, speaking of writers and New England, Mark Twain’s house is located in Hartford, Ct. Seems like it would be an interesting place to tour. https://marktwainhouse.org/about/the-house/

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    • Thank you, Anonymous! Great mentions of Emily Dickinson and John Updike! (Never thought I’d write those two in the same sentence. 🙂 )

      My daughter’s boat didn’t win, but had a very respectable showing against 89 other boats — many from private high schools that recruit rowers. Maria’s high school is a public one.

      I’ve been to the Twain house/museum twice. It is indeed a fascinating place to visit!

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      • Was going to include Walt Whitman, but he’s a Long Islander although I associate him with New England, as I associate Twain with the south since a lot of his tales were about Mississippi, ie Tom and Huck and Riverboats. Odd to say I associate Capote with both New England and the South. Sorry Maria’s school didn’t win. She’s quite the little athlete. I hope she does well in all her endeavors. Thanks for the theme Dave. I guess I need to start signing my post Anon-Susi. Ha.

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        • I thought it might have been you, Susi, but I wasn’t sure. 🙂

          Yes, Twain evokes the South, but he lived many years in Connecticut and also spent some time in New York during the last two-thirds of his life.

          And thanks for your kind words about Maria! A major knee injury sent her from gymnastics and softball to crew; fortunately, crew has worked out. Another regatta tomorrow; this time in the Philadelphia area. Will watch that one via streaming rather than in person. 🙂

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  5. “See Jane Run” by Joy Fielding takes place in Boston.
    It’s one of her NY Times best sellers.
    It was one of the first I read. The opening lines of the book hooked me in.
    I seem to remember Sally Field bought the movie rights, but it never got made.
    Pity! A great psychological thriller!
    If you liked “Still Life” you’ll love this!

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  6. Ah, New England stories are refreshing. The new world, closeness to the Atlantic, and moody weather. I admit the stories that really gripped me as a teen were the Revolutionary War books my mom bought me. The 1770s were a crazy time for New Englanders.
    That’s also cool to know that the home which inspired the Haunting Of Hill House is likely in New England.
    Thank you for a fun and refreshing post!

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    • Thank you, Sara! Yes, the moody weather, the nearness to the ocean, the history (Revolutionary War, etc.)…New England has much interesting material for real life and for literature. Novels that include the Revolutionary War can definitely be compelling (the ones I read most recently from that era are part of Diana Gabaldon’s wonderful “Outlander” series). Glad your mom bought you books from that era when you were a teen. 🙂

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      • Omg you read Outlander! That is wonderful. 🙂 I LOVE that story so much. I love how you learn so much of history first in Scotland when Claire first falls back into time as a nurse then later on when she reconnected with Jaime, they go west to search for his nephew then they settle together in the new world and get caught up in the war. Such an awesome saga! 🙂
        It is such a fascinating era for sure. It was a new time for America and so many stories surrounding the war and how people first came there.
        Yeah my mom was always a pro and choosing good books for me. 🙂
        As always, you have very intelligent and amazing insight, Dave. 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  7. Thinking Stephen King,wasn’t “Misery” set in ME? That’s great that your daughter Maria is on a rowing team or crew team as you write. What a excellent workout.

    I remember seeing a team competing when I was last in Maine a few years ago. Rowing quite popular in New England.

    -Michele, E&P way back..

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  8. Dave – a brilliant photo of your daughter’s boat racing on the Charles River. As already mentioned the first books that came to mind was H. P. Lovecraft’s books and his fictional New England towns and cities – Arkham, Innsmouth, and Dunwich. I understand that he used this region’s rich history and folklore to create his eerie atmospheres. I wonder if the legend of Sleepy Hollow was one of his influences. While Sleepy Hollow was closer to New York, it has the same mysterious and eerie atmosphere.

    My favourite quote from The Shadow over Innsmouth: Where does madness leave off and reality begin? H.P. Lovecraft

    On the other extreme, Pollyanna by Eleanor H Porter was set in a small town in Vermont.

    My favourite quote from that book: Oh, but Aunt Polly, Aunt Polly, you haven’t left me any time at all just to- to live.” Pollyanna Whittier

    Thank you for another great topic and follow-up conversation.

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    • Thank you, Rebecca! Glad you like the photo! And I appreciate you offering another mention of H.P. Lovecraft, who I should have included in the post if it hadn’t slipped my mind. 🙂 He was quite a memorable writer. A few years ago, I read a collection of his that included many short stories and the “At the Mountains of Madness” novella. Wow! And a great mention of “Pollyanna”! I hadn’t realized it was set in Vermont.

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    • Hi Rebecca, Sleepy Hollow is an interesting reference. I wrote a post about it the legend a few years ago for a Dark Origins post. I wondered about Pollyanna, but I’m not always sure where the settings actually are in the USA. A nice quote from a lovely book. I read them all.

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  10. I remember visiting Concord, MA and discovering that Hawthorne Emerson and Thoreau all lived there, some at the same time and some in the same house at different times. Down the road from them is a house I didn’t have time to visit, that of Louisa May Alcott. Quite the literary town, Concord.

    While not an author, I’d be remiss if I didn’t toss a Connecticut favorite son, Noah Webster into the mix. The American Dictionary of the English Language was first compiled here in West Hartford. I used to drive by his historic house every day on my way to work.

    Back in 2010, I was in Cambridge, Ma for a training class. I arrived early, hoping to take in some of the sights, and I was able to observe the “Head of the Charles” regatta. Congratulations to your daughter.

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    • Truly amazing what a literary center Concord was! Thank you, Dan, for describing that! Nineteenth-century Hartford wasn’t bad, either, with Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe being next-door neighbors.

      Nice Noah Webster mention, too!

      The “Head of the Charles” is quite an event to watch! It did take us a LONG time to find parking within walking distance of the river to see the racing. We ended up in the parking lot of the Harvard football stadium in Cambridge for a gouging-level fee. 🙂

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  11. Right…having been out in ‘settler’ tradition wedge and sledging wood while the weather was fine, after being hammered by Storm Babet there, I can now come back and comment on your excellent post. You have covered a lot of books so I will add the Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton which is about the niece of John Winthrop, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay colony and Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris, also set in Massachusetts.

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    • Thank you, Shehanne, for those two mentions! Sounds like your life has been interesting lately — as always! Massachusetts definitely played a major part in the settling of the U.S. by white people (long after Native Americans were here, of course).

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      • Well we were very lucky where we stay Roberta, thank you so much for asking. All of the 3 houses we have had have been on hills, so we were fine and I gather that what we call Ferry Central, as in down in the main part of Broughty Ferry, they seemed not bad, cos often the drains back up there. I’d been out shopping the da it first hit and like that most places were deserted and it stepped up a gear within an hour or so, turning really nasty so I went home and I wouldn’t have known the half of what was going on in Dundee itself had not friends and readers sent me pics on messenger of their streets the next day. It was shocking to see. The Tay then burst its banks and so did the Dighty which runs nearer to the back of the city so then water was up to car roofs everywhere and people had to be evacuated from Invergowrie at the other end of Dundee by boat. I also gather that the fancy new housing that was built at the back of the Ferry was lucky not be flooded when the Dichty burst.

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        • Yikes, Shehanne. Sounds like a terrible storm. Sorry about that. Glad you weren’t affected greatly, but it seems like a lot of people were. Every time I hear about something like this occurring anywhere, I think about the awful impact of climate change.

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          • I nearly put a pic of one of the roads to Edinburgh which was closed and flooded and saying I was glad we went there last weekend on fb. But I thought of friends and all and also I didn’t want to grandstand or have people going, ‘ Oh how are you etc,’ cos we got off lightly. Prob the worst here is the petrol station at Sainsburys about five mins away is shut cos it flooded when the Dighty burst. Sainsburys itself is open.

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              • Also, we got lucky …. believe me our last house was anything but. It was emergency after emergency from the night a storm ripped the flashings off the roof and dumped them in the garden, to the water tank bursting 2 days before having a houseful for New Year, including other things things it would take me a week to tell you of here, like how all the roofs in the terrace sank under the weight of snow one year, except ours and the roofer two door along cos we had the forsight to lean out of attic windows and knock the snow off as it thawed. And you know, I actually thought we were due that luck this time roiund, cos in this house, 8 nine years now, touch wood, apart from a burst boiler it’s been fine.

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                  • Well we had been snowed in for a few weeks at that point and had various adventures during that time but when it started to thaw it was running down inside the windows and these houses had a bay windwon in the downstairs room but not the one above it. Those who didn’t get that snow off their roof spent xmas with no ceilings anything.

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                    • Lol. That was the time it took as 8 hours to get home from Glencoe, six and a half of these hours on what normal takes one and a half. We dug out of laybys, we organised digging teams, we witnessed the whole of Scotland at a standstill at the Broxden Roundabout, we saw folks waiting at bustops for buses that were never gonna come and having managed to slither through Perth by another route, couldn’t dare stop in case we couldn’t get going again, an old couple wheeling their suitcases up the centre of the carraigeway, miles from Perth having come off a plane and refusing all offers of emergency services, miles long queues of cars at a standsill on the other side of the carraigeway, heading into Perth. Hell sounding like Dylan’s Hard Rain song. And naturally when we did finally crawl along the back country road to our house, we couldn’t get parked cos of the snow and had to abandon the car eventually in a sports’ centre. Yeah , that was the first of that set of adventures….. They continued for a week or two.

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                    • That journey normally taes maybe 3 hours 20, depending on the roads, like if you get stuck in a classic car rally that is heading there to show off in the ski centre car park, or indeed there’s an accidnet blocking the road meaning you have to go back and round by Loch Lomond, in which case it takes like five hours. But yeah that day, we had left the Clachaig early cos we had heard re this storm and got the first hour and half in all the way down to Lochearnhead abso fine, just as usual. It was when we turned there OMG, it was like entering another universe. BUT I always think it is good to know you can rise to these challenges..lol…

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                • The orads up nporth in Scotland are a concept it is actually arhd to explain to folks across the pond. The two main ones north are only main in that they are the only ones and they are deathtraps, narrow winding…awful… We went to Arisaig a distance of roughly 160 miles this summer past and it took us something like 5 hours. We get down to York in less.

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                  • Those roads sound “interesting” to drive on. 😦 And, yes, there’s something to be said for surviving such a challenge, but the good feeling about that is of course probably best remembered in retrospect than actually experiencing. 🙂

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                    • Well at the time, my Mr had been diagnosed with menieres which changed a lot of our lives because of its unpredictability and like that what was really good at the time was that after I’d knocked on a few car windows and got those who had shovels in their car boots willing to start digging this van out , which was blocking the whole sliproad, so we could at least all of try for the next stage of this mess, I looked round and there he was determined he could do this, and yeah it was good cos it pulled him out of where he’d been sitting for a bit in life.

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                    • Very sorry about your husband’s illness. But good there was a bit of a silver lining for him that resulted from responding to the weather crisis. And nice cooperation with the sharing of available shovels!

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  12. Carolyn Chute (The Beans of Egypt, Maine) comes to mind. Brett Lott’s The Man Who Sold Vermont is set in Vermont. John Gardner’s October Light is also set in Vermont. And let’s not forget Peyton Place! Oh, and Nabokov’s Lolita is set in Vermont, too.

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  13. New England was the cultural “seedbed” of the US, referring both to the westward migration of New Englanders and to the transplanting of New England’s cultural, political, and religious institutions into the new territories. Much of the region’s best writing is the work of rural and village writers, many of whom have received little or no attention. Among these are Catharine Sedgwick, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Sarah Orne Jewett, Rowland Robinson – and many more, most of them women

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  14. Hey Dave, can’t let this excellent blog post go by with the omission of, IMHO, one of America’s greatest novelists–Jack Kerouac. Born in Lowell, Mass., his New England-set novels include The Town And The City (his published first); Maggie Cassidy; Visions of Gerard; Dr. Sax; and Vanity of Duluoz.
    All best,
    Fitz

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    • Thank you, Fitz! Excellent author mention! The only Kerouac book I’ve read is “On the Road,” which has many settings for the travel but not New England, if I’m remembering correctly. The best to you, too!

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  16. Of course I must mention Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who lived in Providence, RI. He is considered problematic in some ways, but his writing has had a lasting influence. Many of his stories are set in the fictional towns of Arkham and Kingsport, which were based on Salem and Marblehead, Mass., respectively.

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