Resumo de Steamboat Gothic - Frances Parkinson Keyes

The term steamboat Gothic applies to the type of architecture which was inspired by the style of the floating palaces that plied the Mississippi river during the Golden Age of the south. That magical time of peace and prosperity before the war between the states. This magnificent tail of resilience, grit, and love takes us through the uphill struggles of one man, Clyde Batchelor, and the people that he lived for. Namely his wife Lucy and his step daughter Cary who he could not love more if she were truly his own. Lucy had been widowed very young and left with two children and a devastated legacy, after the war. She is at first determined to prove her self reliance and care for her children alone. Not having found much happiness in her first brief marriage she is reluctant to try again. But Clyde Batchelor is determined to change her mind. It does not take him long to prove to her that he loves her completely and open her eyes to the possibility that this time marriage could bring her joy and fulfillment. Shortly before their marriage Clyde travels to the southern banks of the Mississippi just outside of New Orleans to buy them a dream home to begin their life in. Being that he got his start on the great Steamboats he is instantly attracted to the land palace done in a reminiscent style. But all is not smooth sailing do to the fact that Clyde has a somewhat shameful past that he would rather leave behind him. A past he is terrified could one day destroy the love he has found with Lucy. Determined to make himself over he applies himself wholeheartedly to the farming of Perique tobacco. A form of tobacco unique to that region. Through the years though of their marriage Clyde and Lucy do indeed find happiness and prosperity, to him though the past seems always lurking in the background ready to shatter his idyllic existence.Clyde and Lucy face many trials together both financial and personal but there love not only remains as strong as ever but it continues to grow and mature. This story takes on the feeling of a life long journey in that it follows Clyde through is life from a young man beginning a marriage to an old man who has lost and loved and is in the final stages of the book raising and worrying about his grandson who eventually is called off to the ravages of World War One. Clyde?s grandson Larry Vincent becomes the major character of the end of the story as the reader follows him through life in Europe as it is engulfed and then recovering from war. A place filled with sorrow but where Larry manages to find and cultivate love. The kind of love he has seen personified by his amazing grandfather, throughout his life. This heartwarming tail will leave the reader with the feeling that he has made and lived life with dear friends sharing there ups and downs which in my opinion is the mark of a truly great writer. This is truly Frances Parkinson Keyes at her best.

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