Kavanagh: A Tale is a nineteenth-century American novel set in the fictional New England village of Fairmeadow, where the arrival of the young clergyman Arthur Kavanagh quietly alters the lives of those around him. At the centre of the story are Cecilia Vaughan and Alice Archer, childhood friends with contrasting temperaments whose bond is tested by affection, expectation and feelings left unspoken. Alongside their story, the scholarly village schoolmaster Mr. Churchill dreams of writing a great romance but repeatedly allows hesitation, distraction and literary ambition to stand in the way of action. First published in 1849, Longfellow’s prose work combines domestic romance, village portraiture and gentle literary satire, examining friendship, love, missed opportunities and the distance between artistic aspiration and achievement. This 1857 London edition offers an early British printing of a lesser-known work by an author remembered chiefly for his poetry, while the lives unfolding in Fairmeadow raise questions about how clearly people understand the desires of those nearest to them.
Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Publisher: Knight and Son
Year published: 1857
Number of pages: 124