I’m still not sure about a publication date for “Carrie Welton,” but the novel now has a cover that I’d like to share:
The back-cover blurb will give some idea of the eventful life I’ve imagined for Carrie, both in Waterbury and beyond. As I noted earlier, there is virtually no record of her doings in the period between her late girlhood and her fateful trip to the Rockies at the age of 42. In Anderson’s great 1895 history of Waterbury, there is this: “Miss Welton had much personal beauty, was tall, erect, and of fine carriage and striking personality.” That’s a pretty spare frame on which to hang a novel, but I thought it would be fun, and a challenge, to fill in Carrie’s unknown years with my own ideas about where she might have gone, who she might have met, the adventures she might have had – and the heartache she might have suffered.
CAM, now you really have me excited about discovering the missing years of Miss Welton. I am going to be looking very carefully for autobiographical characters cleverly inserted into her adventures — perhaps meeting a dashing young athlete/writer in a jazz club in Boston or in a New York bar named Tommy’s?
She does spend a lot of time in a New York beer cellar and Bohemian hangout called Pfaff’s. Close enough?
That’ll do.
Beautiful choice. Carrie Welton is my cousin via my mother’s grandmother Caroline Welton Dains of Oakville. I believe Caroline Welton Dains sister was Carrie Weltons mother. My family donated a large parchment genealogy of the John and Mary Welton family to the Mattatuck Museum and a copy of a book of her poems to the Watertown Public Library.
Can’t wait to read it, fellow Penmorean 😉
Can’t wait to read my friend lived in her family home in bunker hill! ! He talked about seeing & hearing strange things !
Perfect choice. I have admired that portrait of Carrie at the Matt. It’s a must-see and your book will definitely be a must-read.