Kirjahaku

Virginia 'Sissy' Clemm falls in love with her cousin Edgar Allan Poe when she's merely a girl of seven. Fourteen years her elder, he's dark and brooding, the picture of a little girl's romantic fantasy. He floats in and out of her childhood, as he fails his way through West Point, the military and a succession of editorial jobs where his talents aren't appreciated. Each time he returns, their odd friendship grows stronger, and her understanding of the moody, troubled writer takes on new and strange dimensions. But her childhood crush takes a serious turn, when he proposes marriage at 13. Her mother objects, but Sissy cannot be swayed. She devotes her young life to Edgar Allan Poe. This provocative novel explores the curious and confounding relationship between Edgar Allan Poe and his child bride Sissy, who, before she died of consumption at age 25, was Poe's constant companion, critic and friend. Lenore Hart, author of Becky, explores the inner life of one of literature's most heralded and haunted figures by imagining the heart of the woman who loved him, inspired him and undid him.

"Hart invites readers to return to the delightfully inventive setting of the Night Bizarre with this second anthology of fantastical short stories featuring a magical traveling market that visits any given city only once . . . Together the tales form a sumptuous carnival, offering a tantalizing glimpse into the mystical underworld of plague-ridden Europe. These dark flights of fancy delight." - Publishers WeeklyThe Night Bazaar is a secret marketplace of the rare, strange, occult, and dangerous. Its curious vendors specialize in services or objects which simply cannot be had elsewhere, for any price. This forbidden market has operated throughout history at various locales - but only for one week. It cannot simply be stumbled upon; you must be Invited. But how did it begin? This collection of thirteen eerie, fantastic, and magical works by various authors recounts the origin story of the Bazaar's first appearance, in St. Mark's Square, Venice, in the plague year of 1348. Some take place in those medieval days of fear, witchcraft, pandemic, and murder. Other, more contemporary tales center on objects from that first bazaar - inherited, found, purchased, or stolen during the dark centuries since by the unsuspecting, foolish, and greedy (though seldom the completely innocent.) Together the linked stories take readers on a fantastical journey into astonishment, dread, and dark delight.