Letters From Women by Lucinda Epperson


Letters. Over the years a literary treasure has been unearthed in books based on letters written by women. These not only describe personal day-to-day activities, but vividly illustrate the times in which these letter writers lived. Several of these books also feature women that are bravely exploring what to them, as well as the reader, are uncommon worlds.

In the recently written Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden we are taken into the summer of 1916. Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood, close friends from childhood and graduates of Smith College, leave their comfortable homes in Auburn, New York for teaching jobs in the wilds of northeastern Colorado. Bored by their society luncheons, charity work, and the young men who court them, they relocate to a remote mountaintop schoolhouse. Their friends and families are shocked. Not only are they leaving safe, comfortable lives for the unstable wild west, but no women within their social circle were even known to have ever been “hired.”

Woodruff and Underwood took the new railroad over the Continental Divide and made their way by wagon to the tiny settlement of Elkhead, Colorado. There they lived with a family of homesteaders. They rode several miles to school each day on horseback, sometimes in blizzards, to teach students in tattered clothes and shoes. And, in the midst of all of this, no one prepared them for the local men, many who were considering them as prospective brides.

In their buoyant letters home, these two women capture the voices and stories of pioneer women. They paint vivid pictures of brave and endearing school children, as well as of the many memorable characters met throughout their adventure.

Dorothy Wickenden, the granddaughter of Dorothy Woodruff and executive editor of the New Yorker, discovered the letters of these young letter writers, reconstructed the women’s journey, and created an exhilarating saga of two intrepid young women who left “nothing daunted.” Woodruff and Underwood were promised the adventure of a lifetime. They and Wickenden’s readers find that and so much more.

Other books also use intimate, unpublished family letters and documents to create detailed excursions into another world. Sisters of Fortune by Jehanne Wake and Stella Tillyand’s Aristocrats are two of these.

Aristocrats introduces the reader to the Lennox sisters, great-granddaughters of a king, daughters of a cabinet minister, and wives of politicians and peers. Through their letters to each other, Tillyand’s history transports us into a world of personal and political passions, forming an astute biography of the privileged eighteenth-century woman. Called “a work of …surpassing brilliance” when first published in 1994, Aristocrats introduces the reader to a very uncommon woman’s world.

The recent (2010) publishing of Sisters of Fortune also features the letters of sisters, this time there are four, living in an unusual world. Descended from prominent first settlers of Maryland and brought up by their wealthy grandfather Charles Carroll, the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Canton sisters were well educated, charming, unusually independent, fascinated by politics, clever with money, and very romantic. As gripping as a historical novel, it is also a meticulously researched history. One example of its detail is the information it shares regarding women and their managing of finances. Where most rich women of the period were content with a passive role regarding finances, Wake shows how the Caton sisters managed investment portfolios and were active and informed players on the domestic and foreign markets. And, we see that they constantly used their social connections not only to win political or diplomatic appointments for their husbands or relatives but also for information on investments.

Sisters of Fortune is a transatlantic celebration of sisterhood and a gripping and fascinating tale as well.

Books based on letters from women offer excellent reading and introductions into the uncommon worlds these women inhabited.

Library Notes



By John Tucker


Do you like tales of things that “go bump in the night?” What about investigations of historical people who appear to have a paranormal presence? When the re-runs on Syfy Network no longer “make the grade” come and see what Rowan Public Library has in its non-fiction Ghost story collection. For starters, you will want to pick up the book “Dark World” by Zac Bagans. Mr. Bagans is the former lead investigator of the Ghost Adventures Crew and his book includes “behind the scene” information on some of the most haunted places visited on the television show. In the name of time allocation, some of the film footage is left on the cutting room floor, so this story fills in the details. Every good ghost story requires details. Zac Bagans wants the reader to experience each haunting through his eyes; to feel what it’s like to be scared, pushed, cold, sluggish, whispered-to, creped-out…and more. Be sure to return it because books like this might just have more frights in store than a mere late fee.

Another book about the scientific approach to this topic is titled “Ghost Hunters written by Deborah Blum. Mrs. Blum follows the work of the Harvard professor of Psychiatry William James who founded the American Society for Psychical Research, and Henry Sidgwick of the British Society for Psychical Research. The book tells the story of these “early pioneers” of ESP and the studies on the afterlife. The results from their work are not far removed from recent paranormal investigations minus the computers, digital recorders and cameras. How can it be that in the same century that gave us the electric light, dynamos, telegraph and telephone...these scientists are so focused on paranormal investigations? I found it amazing to read about the people, places and institutions investigated back in the 1800’s. I think you will, too.

On the local front, the book titled “The Wettest and Wickedest Town” by Karen C. Lilly-Bowyer presents a collection of legends and ghost stories from right here in Salisbury, North Carolina. The book is the result of historical research and paranormal investigations with groups from Charlotte, Greensboro and Lexington. Local haunted sites include: the Wren House, Hall House, County Administration building and many more. This collection of haunted tales comprises the Downtown Ghost Walk which began in 2010. These stories are shared monthly as a walking tour during the “Night-Out-On-The-Town” hosted by the down town merchants of Salisbury.

Whether your inspiration for ghost hunting stories is to supplement your television viewing, your need for scientific proof, or a walk in the dark where ghost stories come to life; your next step should be directed to Rowan Public Library where many spirited books can haunt your curiosity.

Library Notes By Erika Kosin
The Dystopian Novel for Teens

Many people dream of living in a perfect world. A place where everyone is equal and there are no worries, but in the attempt to create that perfect world, the created society usually ends up as a dystopian one. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a Dystopia as an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives. The Dystopian novel is usually set in a future society that is repressed and tightly controlled by some governmental entity, but many times the people living their do not know any differently.

With today’s political climate and the popularity of book The Hunger Games, many teens have found a new genre of fiction to cling to. While The Hunger Games has brought this genre to the front of mainstream literature there are many books, some classic such as Fahrenheit 451 (1953), that have broached this idea of a controlled society that “thinks” they are an enlightened, utopian existence. Some dystopian novels that can be found at the Rowan Public Library for Teens include:

The Giver by Lois Lowry – Imagine a society where everyone is the same. There is no color, no love, no choices and no knowledge. Jonas lives in a world just like this and everyone is happy, but on his twelfth birthday he learns that he will be the receiver of memories, the person who knows what life was like before the sameness. As he learns about what life could be, he is faced with the dilemma of leaving home to live a full life or staying and keeping those around him in the dark and happy.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld – What if at the age of 16 everyone in society underwent plastic surgery and became perfect versions of themselves. If all choices, views and beliefs were erased making everyone pleasant and compliant. Set 300 years into the future, Tally Youngblood is about to become a “pretty” when she follows her friend Shay to the smoke, a village of “uglies” who refuse to undergo the transformation. As she learns more about the people of the smoke and the world of the pretties, will Tally decide to stay true to herself or will she go to the city to become a Pretty after all.

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix – Twelve year old Luke Garner is the illegal third child in his family and has to stay inside because of a new housing development for government officials being built behind his home. He lives in a future America where droughts have caused a food shortage causing the government to create a strict population law that limits families to two children. If a “Shadow Child” is found, the population police will either kill or imprison the child, therefore forcing these children to either live in the shadows or take on new identities. With government officials moving in, could there really be other shadow children in the new homes?

Matched by Ally Condie – Cassia Reyes has been looking forward to her Matching Ceremony for a long time. When she finds out the Society has chosen her best friend Xander to be her perfect mate, she is both happy and surprised since your mate is usually from a different city and never someone you know. When Cassia receives her microchip with the information about her match on it, a boy named Ky quickly flashes on the screen before Xander, making Cassia question the validity of the Matching process. Could there actually be more than one perfect match out there for each person? Could the society have made a mistake and picked the wrong person for her? As she questions the matching process, she discovers that her world is not as perfect as it seems.