A Marsh Island by Sarah Orne Jewett
For this episode we are joined by the writer, Noreen Masud, author of the acclaimed memoir,\xa0A Flat Place\xa0(currently shortlisted for the Women\u2019s Prize for Non-Fiction). The book she has chosen to discuss is\xa0A Marsh Island,\xa0a 19th\xa0century American novel by Sarah Orne Jowett, who is usually considered one of the foremost proponents of American regionalism \u2013 an assumption this episode investigates. The book was first serialised in the\xa0Atlantic Monthly\xa0magazine in 1885 and published by Houghton Mifflin later that year. The story centres on Dick Dale, a wealthy young urban bohemian artist who finds himself billeted with a traditional farming family in the middle of New England\u2019s Great Salt Marsh. His impact on the small community over the course of a harvest provides what plot there is \u2013 but the novel is rich in atmosphere and interior reflection,\xa0exploring the complex tensions between rural and urban ways of life in late 19th\xa0century East Coast America. It was written at a moment in Jewett\u2019s own life when she had just begun an unconventional relationship with another woman and the episode also explores how that plays out in the subversive presentation of the relationships in the novel.\n*Tickets are now on sale for our LIVE show in London on Wednesday May 14th where we will be discussing The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford, with guest Alex Michaelides. \n* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at\xa0uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted\xa0where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.\n* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit\xa0www.backlisted.fm\n*If you'd like to support the show and join in with the book chat, listen without adverts, receive the show early and get extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at\xa0www.patreon.com/backlisted\n*You can sign up to our free monthly newsletter here\xa0\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices