The Emilie Loring Collection

Yes, I know. The ink is not yet wet on copies of Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing, and Wisdom, and I’m thinking about what comes next. Emilie did that, too:

The morning after I turn in a manuscript to my publisher I start another novel just so I won’t forget how it is done.”  

Emilie Loring

The idea grew from my interactions with you as I’ve shared my discovery of Emilie Loring, the places she lived, and the places she wrote about. Some of you have gone on similar quests, visiting Boston and Blue Hill, looking for the places we know so well from her books. I’ve even gotten to guide a few of you personally, when our schedules in Blue Hill overlapped.

I’m envisioning this as a slim paperback or booklet, easily stuffed into the side pocket of a purse or tote. There will be an e-book version, too, of course, so you can call it up quickly, should you find yourself “in the vicinity.”

I did something a little like this for a university course that I taught. It was a “Kansas Studies” course that combined hiking, biking, and canoeing with study of the land forms, plants, animals, history, and lore of a different location each day. On a single sheet for each adventure, I gave directions to the spot, a little preview of what we would see there, and some particulars that mattered to our activity, like where the closest restrooms would be and which hazards might be in play (ticks, snakes, mud, poison ivy?).

For Emilie Loring’s New England, I imagine a simple map of each area with stars marking places associated with Emilie’s life (her homes, the Boston Authors Club meeting rooms, the library where she wrote) and perhaps dots marking places that appear in her books (the trout stream at the beginning of Where Beauty Dwells, the bleached oak that Judith Halliday falls from in A Certain Crossroad, the reversing falls from Here Comes the Sun!). Each location will have its own entry on subsequent pages.

I’ll tell “how to get there,” and where I have favorites, I’ll include views, restaurants, and lodgings that you won’t want to miss. Of course, there will be quotes from her books–and perhaps from Happy Landings, too–and enough photos that you can travel from your armchair, if an actual journey isn’t in the cards.

The publications will stand on their own, but when you’ve read Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing, and Wisdom, I just know you’ll want to visit some of the places you read about. And people who first see Emilie Loring’s New England will surely be curious about the woman associated with so many wonderful places.

How fun would it be to do a summer reading tour of Emilie Loring’s New England, reading her books as you travel from place to place, enjoying local flavors and experiencing the atmospheres she so vividly describes?

There is time to influence the content and format of this little guide, which I would like to have ready for summer 2023. If there’s something you’d love to see, please comment below.

Speaking of planning, our Emilie Loring Tea is coming up soon–July 7th, 4:00 p.m. your local time. I can’t wait to share the cover of Happy Landings: Emilie Loring’s Life, Writing, and Wisdom with you.

Many of you have asked about pre-orders. Yes! You will be able to pre-order autographed copies from this website, as soon as I get the particulars handled. This is new territory for me, so I want to be sure I have covered all of the requirements and that everything is working well before I accept your orders.

The publisher reminds me that this is a big book, and final edits and book design–with 125 photographs!–take time to complete. The best projection I have is that Happy Landings will be at the printer’s in October, delivered to warehouses in February, and released in mid-March 2023. I will send “Coming Soon!” gift cards to people on my Christmas list, and we will have copies in our hands well in time for sunny, spring and summer reading.

Thank you for your enthusiasm and encouragement as we push this biography to the finish line.

Now, let’s get ready for tea.