Paradise On The Hudson

Traces the history of the Hudson River School of American painters, shows works by Church, Cole, and Inness, and describes the background of each painting.

“Through her prodigious research and evocative prose, Caroline Seebohm recreates an era of New York life seen through the history and dazzling beauty of the restored Untermyer Gardens.” —Paula Deitz, author, Of Gardens On a single day in 1939, more than 30,000 people visited the Untermyer Garden—at the time, one of the world’s grandest landscapes. Thirty years later, most of the site had been sold or abandoned. Who was the eccentric visionary behind the estate’s original glory? What triggered the garden’s decline and sparked its restoration? In Paradise on the Hudson, Caroline Seebohm brings to light the remarkable story of a larger-than-life figure lost mostly to history, and the impact of his horticultural obsession. It is a fascinating tale about of the role of passion in both creating and rescuing one of America’s greatest gardening achievements.

Paradise Atop the Hudson revisits a time when life was simpler, albeit the definitive baptism under fire for the novel's saintly protagonist, Adam Sean Furano, whose life is turned upside-down after he is ferociously bullied after being set up by a friend who is envious of his loving family. The fictional work is set in Fairview, New Jersey (a small town located directly across from Manhattan) during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and lovingly recreates a community known for the closeness of its residents and year-long events, including the San Paolino Italian Feast, the Firemen's Bazaar, parades, fireworks, and a remarkable community fabric that brings together so many families and individuals via the churches, schools, eateries, entertainment venues, sporting leagues, Scout troops, local mischief, the town library and stores. The novel further examines the era through the period's popular music, movies, television shows and sports, and there is a constant interplay between good and evil, emboldened by the use of Catholic symbolism. Though the novel's main characters and many events are fictional, some supporting characters are real-life and are identified, and at the end of the story, a massive "Who's Who?"-styled acknowledgment appendix pays tribute to past and present residents of Fairview and Cliffside Park, as well as many other authors, bloggers and online friends of the writer who have impacted him in various ways. A section on those residents who have passed on far too young, and a section of names completes this homage to a special place, where growing up was a privilege. The novel's critical occurrence takes place at Palisades Amusement Park in Cliffside Park.

An account of the author's life and his battles on behalf of Native rights and the rule of law.

A whimsical story about childhood imagination and the freedom to be oneself. Parents always tell their children to go play with other children on the playground. When the mother in Hello, Monster! tells her son to join another boy in the sandbox while he is happily playing by himself, he rebels. His mother never talks to strangers, and what if the other boy is a monster disguised as a child that will trap him in his underground kingdom with all the other children who cook his meals and look after his pet moles? The boy hatches a plan for all of them to escape, but when they do, they encounter a black panther. Luckily, the panther prefers to eat monsters over children, and after his dinner, he tells the children stories of the jungle until five in the morning. The children watch the sun rise as they return home to their worried parents, who feel guilty and let them stay home and eat cake all day, never telling them to “go play with that boy” ever again. With lively and whimsical illustrations, Hello, Monster! is a creative story about respect for the imagination, solitude, and children’s inner worlds.

Profiles the homesteads of the Hudson River artists, including Thomas Cole, Frederic E. Church, Albert Bierstadt, and Asher B. Durand.