The Hatbox Letters - by Beth Powning (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

A luminescent debut novel following one woman's journey through love, loss, grief, and renewal

In her rambling Victorian house, surrounded by heirloom gardens and the gentle sounds of a river, fifty-two-year-old Kate Harding faces her second winter since the untimely death of her husband. In her living room are several hatboxes filled with letters recently brought by her sister from the attic of their grandparents' eighteenth-century Connecticut house. Kate remembers the sense of permanence and refuge that she felt in her grandparents' apple-scented world, as well as, more recently, with her husband. As she begins to read the hatbox letters, she discovers that what to a child seemed a serene and blissful marriage was in fact founded on a tragic event. As Kate's eyes clear to the truth of the past, a new tragedy unfolds, and her own house, filled with the shared detritus of marriage and motherhood, becomes the refuge where Kate can connect the strands of her unraveled life.

From the Back Cover

Praise for The Hatbox Letters

"Powning brilliantly illuminates grief in all its shape-shifting pain, and in so doing, expands her characters' lives, and ours...a deeply beautiful book...an extraordinary achievement."
- The Globe and Mail

"Tender and lush. . . . Powning writes about grief with uncanny precision; she gets all its ambushes and piercing aches exactly right."
- National Post

"Powning's subject here is no less than the relationship of life and death, and she engages it with rigor and grace."
- Quill & Quire

Praise for Home: Chronicle of a North Country Life

"A beautiful celebration of natural life. . . . "
- E. L. Doctorow

"In a world increasingly cynical and numb, Powning puts a light in the window for us all. . . . " - Chicago Tribune

"Powning combines an extraordinary understanding and sense of place with an affinity for the world of nature...this book imparts a feeling of serenity; Annie Dillard fans will enjoy it."
- Publishers Weekly

"An eloquent celebration of the rural lifestyle and a joy to experience."
- The Bloomsbury Review

"Powning's choice of language and the rhythm of her prose wondrously evoke the idea of living within a natural setting. . . ."
- San Francisco Book Review

Review Quotes

"Powning's writing is lyrical, with its focus on the hatboxes' secrets and the earthy beauty of the Canadian countryside. The author poignanty and creatively draws parallels between Giles' trials and Kate's tragix loss and ability to rediscover life on her own." --Romantic Times, four stars

"Powning has a delicate and lyrical touch." --Kirkus

"Powning does an excellent job of portraying Kate's Sadness, divulging the tales of her family and focusing on the quiet beauty of her surroundings." --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Beth Powning is the author of Home: Chronicle of a North Country Life, and Shadow Child: An Apprenticeship in Love and Loss. Born in Connecticut, she now lives in Sussex, New Brunswick.