Alice Elliott Dark

This tour-de-force novel from an award-winning author is the triumphant story of a lifelong friendship between two singular women across the arc of the 20th century. When Agnes Lee receives her third cancer diagnosis at the age of eighty, she focuses on securing her legacy. First, as an author: though a celebrated children’s book author, she has struggled to begin what she knows will be the final volume of her popular, pseudonymously written Franklin Square series of novels. But even more consuming is her determination to find a way to permanently protect Fellowship Point, a peninsula of majestic coast in Maine acquired by five like-minded Quaker families in the 1870s. Agnes is determined to dissolve a generations-old partnership agreement in order to donate the land to a trust and thereby protect it from potential development after her death. Long used to getting her way, Agnes is confident she can convince the two surviving shareholders—her lifelong best friend Polly Wister, and her favorite nephew Archie Lee—to go along with her plan. Polly Wister has led a different kind of life than Agnes: that of a well-off married woman with children, defined by her devotion to her husband, a philosophy professor with an inflated sense of stature. She exalts in creating beauty and harmony in her home, in her friendships, and in her family life. When Agnes proposes her plan for Fellowship Point, Polly finds her loyalties torn between the wishes of her best friend and those of her eldest son who is in line to be the next shareholder. But what is it that Polly herself wants? Agnes’s designs are further muddied when an enterprising young book editor named Maud Silver sets out to convince Agnes to write her memoirs. Agnes’s resistance cannot prevent long-buried memories and secrets from coming to light with far-reaching repercussions for all. Fellowship Point reads like a classic 19th-century novel in its beautifully woven, multilayered narrative and it is entirely contemporary in the themes it explores: a deep and empathic interest in women’s lives, the class differences that divide us, the struggle to protect the natural world, and, above all, a reckoning with intimacy, history, and posterity. It is a masterful achievement from Alice Elliott Dark.

A Novel

Fellowship Point

Stories deal with a mother caring for her adult son as he is dying from AIDS, a man tempted to cheat on his pregnant wife, the confused memories of an Alzheimer's patient, and a woman leading an unfulfilled life in a safe marriage.

Stories

In The Gloaming

The masterful story of a lifelong friendship between two very different women with shared histories and buried secrets, tested in the twilight of their lives, set across the arc of the 20th century. Celebrated children’s book author Agnes Lee is determined to secure her legacy—to complete what she knows will be the final volume of her pseudonymously written Franklin Square novels; and even more consuming, to permanently protect the peninsula of majestic coast in Maine known as Fellowship Point. To donate the land to a trust, Agnes must convince shareholders to dissolve a generations-old partnership. And one of those shareholders is her best friend, Polly. Polly Wister has led a different kind of life than Agnes: that of a well-off married woman with children, defined by her devotion to her husband, and philosophy professor with an inflated sense of stature. She exalts in creating beauty and harmony in her home, in her friendships, and in her family. Polly soon finds her loyalties torn between the wishes of her best friend and the wishes of her three sons—but what is it that Polly wants herself? Agnes’s designs are further muddied when an enterprising young book editor named Maud Silver sets out to convince Agnes to write her memoirs. Agnes’s resistance cannot prevent long-buried memories and secrets from coming to light with far-reaching repercussions for all. Fellowship Point reads like a classic 19th-century novel in its beautifully woven, multilayered narrative, but it is entirely contemporary in the themes it explores; a deep and empathic interest in women’s lives, the class differences that divided us, the struggle to protect the natural world, and, above all, a reckoning with intimacy, history, and posterity. It is a masterwork from Alice Elliott Dark.

The author of Naked to the Waist shares ten intriguing stories that lay bare the emotional lives of people struggling with the dislocations of modern life.

In the Gloaming

From the author of Think of England and Fellowship Point, a captivating collection of stories—the title piece successfully made into an HBO film—about the complex relationships between lovers, spouses, neighbors, and family members. By turns funny, sad, and disturbing, these are stories of remarkable power. When the austere and moving title story of this collection appeared in The New Yorker in 1993, it inspired two memorable film adaptations, and John Updike selected it for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of the Century. In these ten stories, Alice Elliott Dark visits the fictional town of Wynnemoor and its residents, present and past, with skill, compassion, and wit.

The masterful story of a lifelong friendship between two very different women with shared histories and buried secrets, tested in the twilight of their lives, set across the arc of the 20th century. Celebrated children's book author Agnes Lee is determined to secure her legacy--to complete what she knows will be the final volume of her pseudonymously written Franklin Square novels; and even more consuming, to permanently protect the peninsula of majestic coast in Maine known as Fellowship Point. To donate the land to a trust, Agnes must convince shareholders to dissolve a generations-old partnership. And one of those shareholders is her best friend, Polly. Polly Wister has led a different kind of life than Agnes: that of a well-off married woman with children, defined by her devotion to her husband, and philosophy professor with an inflated sense of stature. She exalts in creating beauty and harmony in her home, in her friendships, and in her family. Polly soon finds her loyalties torn between the wishes of her best friend and the wishes of her three sons--but what is it that Polly wants herself? Agnes's designs are further muddied when an enterprising young book editor named Maud Silver sets out to convince Agnes to write her memoirs. Agnes's resistance cannot prevent long-buried memories and secrets from coming to light with far-reaching repercussions for all. Fellowship Point reads like a classic 19th-century novel in its beautifully woven, multilayered narrative, but it is entirely contemporary in the themes it explores; a deep and empathic interest in women's lives, the class differences that divided us, the struggle to protect the natural world, and, above all, a reckoning with intimacy, history, and posterity. It is a masterwork from Alice Elliott Dark.

Short stories depict men and women's desires for love, control, success, revenge, and independence

Naked to the Waist

It has been said that children are great observers but poor interpreters. Nine year old Jane MacLeod thinks she's responsible for the tensions between her parents, which conflicts with her strong desire to be part of a happy family. She wishes everyone would follow her grandmother's advice in times of crisis - think of England - a phrase that makes her feel safe. When the MacLeods gather for a long-awaited event, the Beatle's first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Jane sees in the band the same profound pining she feels in herself. But later that night a tragedy dashes her hope for the future and burdens her with guilt for decades to come. Years later, Jane travels to London where happiness surely awaits. Yet it isn't until she is in her forties with a child of her own that Jane interprets the past with wisdom and discovers the secret of family happiness. Joyce Carol Oates has said that each of Alice Elliott Dark's short stories 'exudes the gravitas of a radically distilled novel.' With THINK OF ENGLAND, Dark rises to Oates's prescient praise, revealing herself to be a master of the longer form.

Alice Elliott Dark

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