Red House: Being a Mostly Accurate Account of New England's Oldest Continuously Lived-in House - Paperback

by Sarah Messer (Author)

In her critically acclaimed, ingenious memoir, Sarah Messer explores America's fascination with history, family, and Great Houses. Her Massachusetts childhood home had sheltered the Hatch family for 325 years when her parents bought it in 1965. The will of the house's original owner, Walter Hatch--which stipulated Red House was to be passed down, "never to be sold or mortgaged from my children and grandchildren forever"--still hung in the living room. In Red House, Messer explores the strange and enriching consequences of growing up with another family's birthright. Answering the riddle of when shelter becomes first a home and then an identity, Messer has created a classic exploration of heritage, community, and the role architecture plays in our national identity.

Author Biography

Sarah Messer teaches poetry and creative nonfiction at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. Her poetry has been published in the Kenyon Review, Paris Review, Story, and many other journals. She is the author of a book of poetry, Bandit Letters. She has received a Mary Roberts Rinehart award for Emerging Writers, and grants and fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the American Antiquarian Society, and the National Endowment for the Arts.