Synopses & Reviews
First published in 1946, The Turquoise was the great historical novelist Anya Setons third novel and sold close to a million copies. It is the story of a beautiful, gifted woman who leaves the magic mountains of her native New Mexico for the piratical, opulent, gaslit New York of the 1870sonly to end her search for happiness back in the high, thin air of Santa Fe. Santa Fe Cameron, named for the place of her birth, was the child of a Spanish mother and a Scotch father and inherited from both a high degree of psychic perceptivity. Natanay, an American Indian, saw this and gave the little orphan a turquoise amulet as a keepsake; this turquoise, the Indian symbol of the spirit, dominates her life. For Santa Fe Cameron, life is made up of violent contrasts: the rough wagon of the gay young Irish medicine vendor who brings her East and the scented hansom cabs and carriages waiting before her own Fifth Avenue mansion; the glittering world of the Astors and a dreary cell in the Tombs. All the color, excitement, and rich period detail which distinguish Anya Setons novels are here, together with one of her most unusual heroines.
Review
Seton, at her best, has a gaudy vitality all her own, and a sure sense of theatre. This reader, for one, enjoyed [The Turquoise] enormously.” The New York Times
Review
With accurate historical background, Anya Seton has constructed a touchingly tragic story of a girl who tried so hard to find happiness that she lost everything in her search. The life of Santa Fe Cameron lingers long in memory.” Springfield Republican
Review
Miss Setons narrative skill makes the action swift and picturesque and produces a rattling story.” Saturday Review of Literature
About the Author
Anya Seton was the author of 10 bestselling historical romances, including Avalon, Devil Water, Dragonwyck, Foxfire, Green Darkness, The Hearth and Eagle, Katherine, My Theodosia, and The Winthrop Woman.