Deborah Noyes - Angel and Apostle

It seem to make sense that my first real post should be words in praise of another author. I've just finished Angel and Apostle by Deborah Noyes (from Unbridled Books, http://www.unbridledbooks.com/page/angel-and-apostle). In this "re-imagining" of the end of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, Noyes introduces to the Pearl we wish was in The Scarlet Letter. The narrative follows Pearl's life in the woods outside of Boston, to her removal to England, to her eventual marriage and return to America. Throughout the novel, Pearl's voice rings true, and Noyes is at her best setting up the relationship between the stubborn and independent Pearl and the pathetically dependent Simon, a blind boy she meets in the forest. Pearl's relationship is also as tightly strung as a guitar and resonates with just as much music.

I appeared at an event recently with Deborah Noyes at the Old Manse in Concord (http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/346_old_manse.cfm), and was very impressed with her approach to writing knowledge of seventeenth century life. She is an author worth keeping track of; she is planning another historical novel.