The Raven's Bride

I thoroughly enjoyed this fictionalized story of Edgar Allan Poe and his child bride, Virginia "Sissy" Clemm. You don't really have to be a Poe fan to enjoy this novel, which is told by Virginia from her perspective. It is a beautifully written, a haunting tribute to Poe's writing, and a sad story of a great love.

Virginia is half Poe's age when they marry - 14 to his 28 - and his cousin. Their families are impoverished but mannerly and educated, and Virginia is a strong-willed young lady. Eddy, as she calls him (which I initially found a little jarring but soon got over it) is a troubled genius, with a dark imagination and deep sensitivity. The story follows them from Baltimore to Richmond, to New York, to Philly, and then back to New York. Eddy is always looking for the next great opportunity, and he seems to ruin every good opportunity he gets. When he does find literary success, there seems to be very little monetary success to accompany it.

I enjoyed reading about the reactions to Poe's writing during his lifetime, and seeing him as a real person, not the character that he has become in the century-and-a-half since his death. The author, Lenore Hart, was named for a Poe poem (she says in the afterword) so she obviously has some affinity and affection for her subject. I like the way she portrays Poe as, not an alcoholic opium-addict, but as a troubled soul who has troubled times. And I like that young Virginia, his child bride, is the one person who can keep him from going too deep inside of himself.

Lenore Hart made Edgar Allan Poe human for me, not just a name on a book jacket, and I very much enjoyed meeting him.


http://www.amazon.com/Ravens-Bride-Novel-Lenore-Hart/dp/0312567235/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318943923&sr=1-1