Lost Island: Plus three stories and an afterword

LOST ISLAND was Barbara Follett's third and last novel. It tells the story of Jane Carey, a young woman from Maine whose character and philosophy bear a striking similarity to her creator's.

A lover of woods and mountains, Jane finds herself working in a dusty New York office during the early years of the Great Depression. Her job is dull, her friends are in trouble, and she yearns for adventure. She finds it in a schooner anchored in the harbor, which soon whisks her away to... where? Jane doesn't know nor care.

Jane and second mate Davidson fall in love; and when the ship is wrecked during a mighty storm, they find paradise on an uncharted island in the South Pacific. Years pass, until the modern world resurfaces with its teeth bared, forcing the couple to deal with their new, heartbreaking reality.

Barbara's earlier novels--THE HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS and THE VOYAGE OF THE NORMAN D.--were published by Alfred A. Knopf when she was twelve and thirteen. Her literary career looked bright, but after her father deserted his family in 1928 her world fell apart. A fearless girl, Barbara managed her grief by cutting a new path--one full of adventure, wisdom, and love.

LOST ISLAND mirrors the lives of its author and Edward Anderson, a sailor she met at sea in 1929. Five years after finishing it, on December 7, 1939, Barbara walked out of her home in Brookline, Massachusetts, and was not heard from again. She was twenty-five.

This expanded edition includes three other stories by Barbara--ROCKS, TRAVELS WITHOUT A DONKEY, AND WALKING THE MALLORCAN COAST--and an afterword by her half-nephew, Stefan Cooke, whose BARBARA NEWHALL FOLLETT: A LIFE IN LETTERS was published by Farksolia in 2015.

Author: Barbara Newhall Follett
Publisher: Farksolia
Published: 02/17/2020
Pages: 440
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.22lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.50w x 0.98d
ISBN: 9780996243148


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 08/01/2022

About the Author
Cooke, Stefan: - Stefan Cooke compiled, edited, and published a collection of his half-aunt Barbara's correspondence--BARBARA NEWHALL FOLLETT: A LIFE IN LETTERS--in 2015. He also manages a website devoted to Barbara: farksolia.org. His second literary project was publishing his aunt's third and last novel, LOST ISLAND, in 2020. This expanded edition includes three other stories by Barbara and an afterword by Cooke, which ties the stories together and recounts the period during which Barbara wrote them. His afterword includes much new information about Barbara's life that has come to light since the publication of A LIFE IN LETTERS. Cooke lives with his wife Resa Blatman and their three cats in Somerville, Massachusetts.Follett, Barbara Newhall: - Born in 1914 into a literary family, Barbara Newhall Follett published her first novel with Alfred A. Knopf--THE HOUSE WITHOUT WINDOWS--when she was twelve. It was widely praised throughout the United States and Great Britain. Eleanor Farjeon, who composed the hymn Morning Has Broken, wrote: These pages simply quiver with the beauty, happiness, and vigour of forests, seas, and mountains.... I can safely promise joy to any reader of it. Perfection. In 1927 Barbara convinced her parents to let her sail on an old trading schooner from her home in New Haven, Connecticut, to Nova Scotia; and the following year Knopf published THE VOYAGE OF THE NORMAN D.--her remarkable description of the voyage. Barbara's literary career looked bright, but shortly before publication her father deserted his family for a younger woman. Barbara was devastated, but convinced her mother that their best recourse was to go to sea with their typewriters. After ten months at sea Barbara met and fell in love with a sailor, Edward Anderson. After moving to New York during the early months of the Great Depression, Barbara began writing her third and last book--LOST ISLAND--which mirrors her own life and that of her wandering sailor's. Soon, however, she would meet a new beau, Nickerson Rogers. Both devotees of woods and mountains, the couple spent the summer of 1932 walking the Appalachian Trail from Katahdin to the Massachusetts border. After a year exploring Europe they married in Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1934. Five years later, with the marriage failing, Barbara walked out of her home and was not heard from again. She was twenty-five.