May Sarton

Three luminous novels from a New York Times–bestselling author and National Book Award finalist. Throughout her long and acclaimed career, May Sarton refused to be categorized. As a memoirist, poet, and novelist, she broke new ground by openly exploring homosexuality, gender inequality, and other once taboo social issues. Gathered here in one volume are three of her most memorable and moving works of fiction. Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing:...

Poetic meditations on solitude by acclaimed author May Sarton. This collection borrows its title from Sir Walter Raleigh, who wrote, "Love is a durable fire / In the mind ever burning." It is a fitting sentiment for a collection on solitude, wherein the author finds herself full of emotion even in seclusion. The first poem, "Gestalt at Sixty," finds the author reflecting on the joy and loneliness of being solitary. A Durable Fire is a transformative...

May Sarton's poetic celebrations of the American landscape. Written in Santa Fe, New Mexico, May Sarton's third collection of poems takes inspiration from the land, the light, and the palette of the American Southwest. With archaeological precision, Sarton uncovers American history and heredity. "Plain grandeur escapes definition," begins one poem. But Sarton's America is alive with history and is continually redefined by its own settings and mythology....

Stunning reflections chronicling a journey both spiritual and physical by May Sarton, one of America's most beloved poets. In celebration of her fiftieth birthday, May Sarton embarked on a pilgrimage around the world. Traveling through Japan, India, and Greece, she captured her spiritual discoveries in this vivid collection of poetry. Arresting images and meditations on the differences between East and West are rendered with the exceptional clarity...

In May Sarton's seventeenth and final collection of poetry, the writer reflects on life, aging, and mortality. Coming into Eighty presents a poet's look at age. Herein, Sarton gives readers a glimpse into her quotidian tasks, her memories, her losses, and her triumphs. The volume explores topics ranging from the war in Iraq to the struggle of taking a cat to the vet. Dark and immediate, this work catalogues both the tedium and the splendor of life...

May Sarton's celebrated novel of family, philosophy, and survival, set between the two great wars that cleaved Europe in two In the wake of the First World War, life for the Duchesnes goes on almost as it always has. Situated near a vegetable garden, an orchard, and rolling green pastures, their Belgian estate is one of the few that escaped dereliction in the difficult preceding years.   The garden is Mélanie Duchesne's lifeblood-a boost to her...

In the hallowed halls of one of New England's most prestigious colleges, a young woman finds new and unexpected life as professor while a scandal brews just on the periphery On the train north from New York City, Lucy Winter takes inventory of her life. Twenty-seven and newly single, Lucy is headed toward a fate she never anticipated: professorship at a women's college in New England. Her doctorate degree, obtained from Harvard, was more of a hobby...

May Sarton's 7th novel is about marriage, family, life's cycles, and the regeneration of love Frances and Sprig Wyeth have come to the old Wyeth house in Maine for the summer. In a house filled with lively members of her husband's extended family, Frances feels alienated from everyone, including Sprig. A night of passion breaks down the growing barriers between them, yet Frances feels it is more a "desperate moment of possession" than the true "flowing...

As she battles debilitating illnesses, May Sarton looks back on her life, cherishes new and old friendships, and finds hope in the brave new world of old age "I always imagined a journal that would take me through my seventy-ninth year," May Sarton writes, "the doors opening out from old age to unknown efforts and surprises." Instead of musing calmly on the philosophical implications of aging, the writer found herself spending most of her energy battling...

An intimate and uplifting memoir chronicling May Sarton's efforts to regain her health, art, and sense of self after suffering from a stroke Feeling cut off and isolated-from herself most of all-after suffering a stroke at age 73, May Sarton began a journal that helped her along the road to recovery. She wrote every day without fail, even if illness sometimes prevented her from penning more than a few lines.   From her sprawling house off the coast...