Research Catalog

Bluebird, or, The invention of happiness : a novel

Title: Bluebird, or, The invention of happiness : a novel / Sheila Kohler.
Author: Kohler, Sheila.
Publication: New York : Other Press, [2007], ©2007.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	PR9369.3.K64 B68 2007	Off-site

Details

Description

425 pages; 23 cm

Summary

"Bluebird, or The Invention of Happiness is a novel based on the life of a French aristocrat of Irish origin, Henriette Lucy Dillon. Her beauty, wit, and lack of pretension made her a favorite of such luminaries as Talleyrand and Madame de Stael - and equipped her to survive the "Terror" that swept France in the wake of the Revolution." "As the tumbrels rolls and all her former circle are guillotined, Lucy manages to escape France, taking her husband, a very seasick Marquis, and her two small children across the Atlantic during the rough winter crossing in a small, one-masted boat. After arriving in Boston, the family journeys to the area near Albany, New York where Lucy successfully takes up dairy farming and encounters the American aristocracy of the time: the Schuylers, the Van Rensselaers, and even Alexander Hamilton. She also befriends her Native American neighbors as well as the local Shakers. Exhilarated by the personal and political freedom she finds in America, Lucy embraces all the challenges and adventures the New World presents her." "With research and lavish detail, Sheila Kohler recreates an 18th century world both luminous and terrifying."--BOOK JACKET.

Alternative Title

Bluebird
Invention of happiness

Subjects

Genre/Form

Historical fiction.

ISBN

1590512626 (acid-free paper)
9781590512623 (acid-free paper)

LCCN

2006012192

OCLC

OCM66463711
SCSB-5328959

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries