May Sarton

Now in one volume: Three exquisite meditations on nature, healing, and the pleasures of the solitary life from a New York Times–bestselling author.
In a long life spent recording her personal observations, poet, novelist, and memoirist May Sarton redefined the journal as a literary form. This extraordinary volume collects three of her most beloved works.
 
Journal of a Solitude: Sarton’s...

A splendid collection from a true master It is often in solitude that a writer begins to understand herself. This becomes evident in The Land of Silence, May Sarton's collection of poems previously published in the New Yorker and Harper's Magazine, as Sarton searches for solitude and tries to understand the regrets and ecstasies associated with it.   Images from these poems linger in the mind's eye: a bird, a dream. Sarton's verse feels real, yet...

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...

Three compelling volumes of poetry from a feminist icon, poet, and author of the groundbreaking novel Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing. A Durable Fire: 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. A Durable Fire is a transformative work by a...

The debut work of a literary legend May Sarton's career spanned sixty years and included novels, poetry, memoirs, and even children's books, but it was poetry that provided the world's first look at her wondrous talent. Encounter in April is a fitting starting point for readers wishing to familiarize themselves with one of the twentieth century's most lyrical and eloquent authors.   In this anthology, Sarton describes womanhood devastatingly and...

After a peripatetic life, forty-five-year-old May Sarton longed to put down roots and found them in New Hampshire in the form of a dilapidated eighteenth-century farmhouse with good bones . . . It was the realization of a dream that had been a long time coming In Plant Dreaming Deep, Sarton shares an intensely personal account of transforming a house into a home. She begins with an introduction to the enchanting village of Nelson, where she first...

This captivating book by May Sarton rejoices in friendship and family  In A World of Light, renowned poet and novelist May Sarton renders unforgettable portraits of the friends she considers family-and the family she looks upon as friends. From her father, famed science historian George Sarton, she learns that work is "of the first importance." Her mother, Mabel, an artist in her own right, is her "dearest friend." Sarton also introduces us to fellow...

The poetic tale of a fleeting love affair In her sixty years in literature, May Sarton has taken her readers through all of her emotions and pushed us to explore new places within ourselves. But her feelings are never more raw or exposed than in Letters from Maine.   The rugged coast provides a stark background for Sarton's images of a tragically brief and newfound love. She describes the willingness to give anything and devote everything to a new...

The author and poet’s graceful elegy about life, love, work, and growing older: “The most moving and the most thoughtful [of her] journal-memoirs” (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland).
When May Sarton uprooted her life after fifteen years in the refurbished New Hampshire house with the garden she tended so lovingly, she relied solely on instinct. And something told her it was time to move on. Accompanied by her wild...

May Sarton's powerful and profound novel of an extraordinary life, and of one woman's efforts to preserve the force and vitality of her experiences on the pages of a book For the second time in my life-and I am now seventy-I am embarking on an effort which may well come to nothing but which has possessed my mind, haunts, and will not let me sleep.   From her opening statement, Cam, the narrator of The Magnificent Spinster, declares her grand intentions:...