Cordelia Underwood: or the Marvelous Beginnings of the Moosepath League - Softcover

Van Reid

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1608935183 ISBN 13: 9781608935185

Publisher: Down East Books, 2016

Synopsis

Step back in time to Portland, Maine, in 1896. When the young, beautiful, redheaded Cordelia Underwood inherits a parcel of land from her seafaring uncle, it sets in motion a chain of events that leads to the unearthing of a family secret two centuries old. With apparitions, a kidnapping, smuggling, and thievery, and filled with wonderment, romance, and adventure, Cordelia Underwood is a splendid yarn of the old-fashioned variety.

About this title

Review:

Reid's debut takes place in a simpler, gentler time in 1898, among the well-to-do of Portland, ME. It has parallel plot lines, one of which involves 23-year-old Cordelia Underwood, who lives with her parents and has just inherited from her Uncle Basil a parcel of land in upper, inland Maine that possibly contains buried treasure. The other plot line involves middle-aged Tobias Walton, a man of independent means who travels the world and who this year does his home state. Along the way he has picked up a valet by the name of Sundry Moss, twin brother to Varius Moss. Then there are the three nutty fellows who want Tobias to be the chair of their newly formed club, subsequently named the Moosepath League. In their journeys, Cordelia and Tobias cross paths with the strangest crop of crazies ever to sail into a Maine port or come out of a Maine forest. It's refreshing to read a story with no sex (just a little romance), hardly any violence, and absolutely no naughty words. Recommended, especially for the YA crowd.--Library Journal

"Delightful--thoroughly delightful."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Reminiscent of John Irving at his hilarious best . . . a charming, old-fashioned romp through Victorian New England."--Boston Herald

In his amiable, richly populated first novel, a bookseller from Maine named Van Reid draws a past that should soothe even the twitchiest reader. His re-creation of the summer of 1896 has its mishaps and villains, but it's so sunny that even the violence isn't too scary. Reid's gazillion characters sparkle. Their collective adventures are engaging and (especially when talking in concert or at cross-purposes) they can be funny. In a society populated by sterling types and delightful ninnies, even the villains are decent sorts. Escapists will be charmed by what the author, in an endnote, describes as a ''world of decency and kindness, goodness and laughter, '' in which there's plenty going on and nothing too terrible ever happens. Diffuse and leisurely, the novel seems designed for long afternoons in a hammock.--The New York Times, 7/26/98

About the Author:

Van Reid's family has lived in Edgecomb, Maine, since the 1800s. Reid lives with his wife and children in a house Reid and his brother built on their family's land. His series of novels about the Moosepath League--of which Cordelia Underwood is the first--take place in the late 1800s on coastal Maine.

About this edition

• Publisher: Down East Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1608935183
• ISBN 13: 9781608935185
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464