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Title: Conversations with a Man Long Dead
Author: Robert Holland
ISBN: 1928928048
Description:
In 1843, Able Smith and his pregnant wife, Bessa, live a simple life on their Keene, New Hampshire farm with their two sons. Yet, suddenly Able’s life changes when he begins to hold “conversation with a man long dead.” In a story that is part gothic thriller and part psychological study, author Robert Holland paints a compelling picture of a New England farmer’s struggle to come to terms with the memories of that fateful day when his family was killed in a mysterious fire that left Able alone in the world as a boy.
Holland's book is set in the days before modern psychology, and when the only answer for the unexplained was the struggle between the Puritan’s God and the Devil. Able must rely on his wits, his faithful but concerned wife, his friend the country doctor with a taste for apple jack, and a ne’er-do-well Harvard man turned failed highwayman. Able also gains confidence with the emerging knowledge of the past with the help of ghostly conversations with Sam Long. Though the community had believed Sam Long was a cowardly traitor, Able learns that Long was murdered in the Revolutionary War by the ancestor of a powerful neighbor, whose legacy of deceit has dominated life in their hardscrabble community. Able’s prospects improve with the discovery of a fortune in gold coins - enough to bankroll his independence and his emerging ventures in cider and cheese that hold the promise of prosperity for his neighbors. But before he can realize his destiny and calm the fears of his wife, Able must confront the forces who not only killed Sam Long but also his own family - and do it while keeping his sanity and the trust of his community that still believes in the Puritan principles of Good and Evil.
