The Ghosts of Walden: Three Concord Stories

These riveting and intensely human stories describe the turbulent history of 19th century Concord, Massachusetts. Staying close to the historical record, Jack Hussey creates a vivid tapestry of the conflicts, dreams and fears that animated Concord's famous writers Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne and Alcott as well as local doctors, teachers, shopkeepers and many others. They struggle with their own demons and with the conflicts of their times: slavery, temperance, Irish immigrants, the status of women and the new railroads. In the first story, young Henry Thoreau, scorned by his neighbors, flees town in order to decide where and how he must live, and with whom. The second story describes the night when an abolitionist couple shelter a fugitive slave, uncover an enemy and are shocked to see the vulnerability of the town's anti-slavery leader. In the final story, Concordians gather at Walden Pond to celebrate their storied past, but all goes awry when an Irish boy gets lost in the woods and the Judge who has organized the celebration realizes he might lose the woman he loves. Jack Hussey has taught, written and lectured on film and American literature for four decades. In 1992, he produced a video documentary, Neighbors in Eden, about Emerson, Hawthorne, Dickinson and Thoreau. The Ghosts of Walden is his first work of fiction. He and his wife Nancy live in Fairmont WV.