Author Event: Anne D. Emerson

Blue Hill, Maine - Lifetime summer resident of Brooksville Anne D. Emerson will talk about and read from her new book, Letters From Erastus: Field Notes on Grace at the Blue Hill Public Library on Thursday, July 2nd at 7:00 PM.  Letters from Erastus is woven around twenty-two letters written by the author’s great-great grandfather, Erastus Hopkins, to his daughters in the 1850’s and 60’s. It is also woven around the story of the of the Emerson family on Dog Island Point on Cape Rosier.

The letters reveal an unexpected sensitivity and attempt to provide firm but gentle guidance to a family coping with years of domestic tragedy. Buried for 150 years in the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the letters become the driving force in the author’s quest to figure out who this forgotten man was.  Along the way, they become a bridge to Linc, a schizophrenic cousin in prison, as well as a guide for the author’s understanding of her own life story and old New England family.

While the book is full of engaging history, it is also a “contemporary story, about a family of artists, the interplay of generations and values, and the ways we search for and find meaning as we move through the chapters of our lives.”

Anne D. Emerson was the executive director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University from 1988 to 1998, and after that served as director of the Bostonian Society and the Old State House Museum and as president of the Boston Museum Project. Her articles on historical topics have been published in The Boston Globe. This is her first book.

Books will be available for purchase and signing. This event is sponsored by the Library. There is no charge, and everyone is welcome. For more information, call the Library at 374-5515.