Winner of the 2005 Langum Prize
for American Historical Fiction
nominated FOR THE 2005
Pulitzer PRIZE IN FICTION
NAMED "ESSENTIAL SEATTLE BOOK"
BY NOT FOR TOURISTS 2008 GUIDE TO SEATTLE
Peter Donahue seems to have a map
of old Seattle in his head. No novel extant is nearly as
thorough in its presentation of the early city, and all future
attempts in its historical vein will be made in light of this
book.
—David Guterson, author of
Snow Falling on Cedars and Our
Lady of the Forest
Madison House
treats readers to a boarding
house full of fascinating and lovable characters as they create
their own identities and contribute to early 20th-century life
in Seattle. Every page reflects Peter Donahue’s meticulous and
imaginative recreation of a lively and engaging moment in
American history. I loved reading this novel and sharing in the
pleasures and labors of the diverse and authentic inhabitants of
a remarkable city.
—Sena Jeter Naslund,
author of Four Spirits
and Ahab’s Wife
Peter Donahue crafts a resplendent novel
examining life in Seattle in the early 20th century, complete
with a Dickensian cast of unforgettable characters; a handsome
edition from a rising literary house in Portland. —Seattle
Post-Intelligencer
The historical detail is compelling
and effectively interlaced with the action. Those interested in
the history of the Northwest will find much to savor here. —Booklist
An ambitious novel...
Donahue’s story is a paean to a significant part of the city’s
history.—The
Seattle Times
Madison House
is reminiscent of the tomes of the 19th century—filled
with descriptive passages and forays into the lives of various
characters, telling, ultimately, the tale of Seattle's emergence
as a city during the first decade of the 20th century. The
author's research shows, but does not intrude. The characters
are unique and believable... Peter Donahue has
penned a memorable chronicle of life in the Pacific Northwest
one hundred years ago. —The Historical Novels Review
A richly atmospheric debut
novel. —Elliott
Bay Book Company
Donahue's affecting literary
narrative successfully incorporates social, political,
and cultural history as seen through the eyes of the
dispossessed, disadvantaged, and disenfranchised in a pivotal
time in Seattle's history. —The
Absinthe Literary Review
DONAHUE IS PRODUCING the same kind of historically accurate,
thoroughly researched study of his city as William Kennedy did
with his Albany novels . . . Besides Kennedy, however, Donahue
also emulates E. L. Doctorow in Ragtime, mixing fictional
and historical characters. In Madison House, the novelist
Henry James comes to Seattle, and Clyde gets a chance to meet
the great man, at that time writing The American Scene.
Clyde is a reader, and he and Maddie read, evening by evening,
the complex novels of Dickens and James to one another, without
haste, savoring them as they go, and that is how to read
Madison House. —DON
NOBLE, ALABAMA PUBLIC RADIO
DONAHUE'S VIVID DETAIL, not only of geography but also the means
and implements of living, gives this novel great verisimilitude
as an historical work. The two principal figures and their
unusual love affair, together with the vivid characters who
surround them, play out against the dramatic transformation of
Seattle from frontier settlement to booming metropolis. Beyond
the fascinating characters and strong story line, the work is
also a meditation on the human cost of expansion and enterprise,
insisting that pain and suffering to individual human beings
can accompany conventional progress. —Citation
for the Langum Prize for Historical Fiction
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