Oldtown Folks
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Oldtown Folks is an 1869 novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It is written from the first-person perspective of a young man named Horace Holyoke, who describes his youth in fictional Oldtown, Massachusetts - including humorous depictions of daily life, behavior of local towns folk, and the adoption of Harry and Eglantine Percival.
Author | Harriet Beecher Stowe |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Publisher | Fields, Osgood, and Co. (1st ed.) |
Publication date | 1869 (1st ed.) |
The novel incorporates some spiritual elements, such as deep discussions of God, religious revelations, and visions of ghosts. The story's themes include adoption, schooling, love, death, marriage, and familial secrets. The prose specifically addresses the reader and subverts tropes with plot twists.
Oldtown is a fictional name for the real town of Natick, Massachusetts, the native home of Harriett Beecher Stowe's husband,[1] and many of the ideas in the book come primarily from his memories.[2] Oldtown Folks has claim to be read as a religious novel and often discusses Puritan lifestyles as well as Calvinism and Arminian theology.[3] In addition to these concepts and also the nature of a utopian society, this novel focuses on the question of reproduction and mothering.[4] Written from the perspective of the main character, Horace Holyoke, the novel follows his life in post-American Revolution New England.
It is divided into two volumes based on the age of Horace and his friends.