Finding a Lost Writer – A Book Review of The Field House:
Finding a lost writer – A book review of The Field House: A Writer’s Life Lost and Found on an Island in Maine is a stunning debut by author Robin C. Woods of re-discovering 20th century writer, Rachel Field.
It is quite possible you’ve never heard of the early 20th century author Rachel Field. If so, kindly let me introduce you to Woods’ just-published, richly researched, hybrid-structured biography/memoir of the extraordinary woman who became a Newbery winner, novelist, playwright and Hollywood movie script writer in the early 1900s. In fact, Rachel Fields was born into a socially prominent and accomplished New England family in the late 19th century. Yet, so little has been written of this highly personable woman, her work and life. An avid reader all my life, I’ve only just discovered 20th century writer Rachel Fields’ brief life in Wood’s book.
“The Field House: A Writer’s Life Lost and Found on an Island in Maine” is a charming story of an idyllic childhood. On Sutton Island, she connected so passionately that it woke and nurtured her tender young psyche. In an early poem, Field writes:
“Oh, you won’t know why, and you can’t say how Such change upon you came, But–once you have slept on an island You’ll never be the same.”
Wood framed this deeply moving story into a unique biography/memoir. In journeying back in time to research Field, as she completed each chapter about her life, the author penned letters to Field about her own life during the same time period. These alternating chapters are a lovely structure within which we learn of early common threads between Woods and Fields.
Both women wanted to be writers in their early lives, although each traveled much different journeys to their calling. As Wood and Field matured into young women, their two different worlds began to thread together in small ways. “I found your Island poem (written on Sutton Island) tacked on to a wall in my great-aunt’s cabin on a small island in Big Wolf Lake (in the Adirondacks.)” Wood tells Field in an early letter. Wood’s mother found a Field’s novel on a shelf at Big Wolf Lake with Wood’s great grandmother’s name inscribed. Wood’s mother gave it to her for a Christmas gift, knowing how meaningful it would be.
The brief memoir letters that Wood writes after each chapter richly personalize her memoir. Wood’s growing respect and affection for Fields deeply moved me as I noted the sign offs to Wood’s letters. The first letter was signed “Sincerely Yours.” As the chapters increased, the letter signatures revealed an ever-affectionate friendship.
In 2008, Wood began to “get serious” about getting to know Fields more deeply. Fourteen years had passed since the author and her husband purchased the long-abandoned Field house. The numerous artifacts Fields left behind when she moved to California provided a start. At a Maine workshop, Wood pitched her idea to an editor for a magazine article about Fields. She got the assignment and began deeper research into Fields’ childhood journals, college letters, and stories of her young womanhood. The author’s broad research unearthed mysteries in Fields’ life that out the story of Fields’ brief lifetime.
There are so many beautiful moments in this story that I’ll long remember. One is the deeply poignant final letter Wood writes to Rachel, signed as one would to a very best friend.
Finding a lost writer: a book review of The Field House will be, I suspect, one of the best you read this year. It will surely be one of mine.
Author’s note: This book review first appeared on the award-winning Story Circle Book Review site within the past week.
