A Long Fatal Love Chase

Front Cover
Thorndike Press, 1996 - Fiction - 356 pages
"I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom, " cries impetuous Rosamond Vivian to her callous grandfather. Then, one stormy night, a broodingstranger appears in her remote island home, ready to take Rosamond to her word. Spellbound by the mysterious Philip Tempest, Rosamond is seduced with promises of love and freedom, then spirited away on Tempest's sumptuous yacht. But she soon finds herself trapped in a web of intrigue, cruelty, and deceit.Desperate to escape, she flees to Italy, France, and Germany, from Parisian garret to mental asylum, from convent to chateau, as Tempest stalks every step of the fiery beauty who has become his obsession.

A story of dark love and passionate obsession that was considered "too sensational" to be published in the author's lifetime, "A Long Fatal Love Chase" was written for magazine serialization in 1866, two years before the publication of "Little Women." Buried among Louisa May Alcott's papers for more than a century, its publication is a literary landmark--a novel that is bold, timeless, and mesmerizing."

Louisa May Alcott was born in 1832 in Pennsylvania and grew up in Concord, Massachusetts. She is best known for her books for children. The daughter of philosopher and reformer Amons Bronson Alcott, she was also a supporter of women's rights and an abolitionist. Family debts led her to write the autobiographical novel "Little Women" (1868). The book was a huge success, followed by "Little Men, An Old-Fashioned Girl, " and several other novels .""

The "New York Times" Bestseller

"He stalked her every step--for she had become his obsession..."

High praise for Louisa May Alcott's "A Long Fatal Love Chase":

"Adeliciously readable page-turner."
-- "The New Yorker"

"A suspenseful and thoroughly charming story...and it tends to confirm Alcott's position as the country's most articulate 19th-century feminist."
--Stephen King, "The New York Times Book Review"

"Sensational in every sense of the word: filled with exotic locations, lusty appetites and page-turning treachery."
-- "The Seattle Times"

"A tale of obsessive love, stalking and murder that seems ripped right off today's tabloids."
-- "USA Today"

"Intriguing...Alcott's tale of obsession and sexual politics deepens our appreciation for her championing of women's rights and for her extraordinary storytelling skills."
-- "Booklist"

"At its core, "Love Chase" showcases an alluring, inspiring, made-for-movies heroine."
-- "Entertainment Weekly"

"There's something utterly refreshing about getting a glimpse of Alcott letting her hair down... "Love Chase" gives us a glimpse of the wild, free creature Alcott the writer must have longed to be...the book is lively, so exuberant, and so naughty, reading it is like biting into a juicy peach."
-- "The Boston Phoenix"

From inside the book

Contents

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VI
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Copyright

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About the author (1996)

Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1832. Two years later, she moved with her family to Boston and in 1840 to Concord, which was to remain her family home for the rest of her life. Her father, Bronson Alcott, was a transcendentalist and friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Alcott early realized that her father could not be counted on as sole support of his family, and so she sacrificed much of her own pleasure to earn money by sewing, teaching, and churning out potboilers. Her reputation was established with Hospital Sketches (1863), which was an account of her work as a volunteer nurse in Washington, D.C. Alcott's first works were written for children, including her best-known Little Women (1868--69) and Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys (1871). Moods (1864), a "passionate conflict," was written for adults. Alcott's writing eventually became the family's main source of income. Throughout her life, Alcott continued to produce highly popular and idealistic literature for children. An Old-Fashioned Girl (1870), Eight Cousins (1875), Rose in Bloom (1876), Under the Lilacs (1878), and Jack and Jill (1881) enjoyed wide popularity. At the same time, her adult fiction, such as the autobiographical novel Work: A Story of Experience (1873) and A Modern Mephistopheles (1877), a story based on the Faust legend, shows her deeper concern with such social issues as education, prison reform, and women's suffrage. She realistically depicts the problems of adolescents and working women, the difficulties of relationships between men and women, and the values of the single woman's life.

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