16 h 2 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the nature that makes you feared is one you never chose?
In Rockland, a village in the hills of western Massachusetts, Elsie Venner lives with her watchful father, Dudley. Beautiful, solitary, and unsettling, she longs to be understood. Her mother suffered a rattlesnake’s venom before Elsie’s birth, and the family’s past shadows the way others see her.
Bernard Langdon, a Boston medical student, takes a teaching post to pay for his training. As Elsie’s feelings for him grow, he feels both pity and fear. Dr. Kittredge, the shrewd country physician, helps him look beyond blame. Through their story, Oliver Wendell Holmes asks where inherited nature ends and moral responsibility begins.
What you’ll discover
- A longing beneath the strangeness Meet a young woman whose fierce wish for love sits beside her unsettling presence.
- A village ready to judge Enter a New England town full of opinions about sin, fate, and human nature.
- A doctor's watchful eye Follow Dr. Kittredge as he helps Bernard understand Elsie through nature rather than guilt.
- The question beneath the fear Consider how freely anyone chooses when inherited traits help shape the person they become.
- Wit within the Gothic mood Enjoy a narrator who pauses for jokes, local customs, and sharp portraits of people.
Who will love it
For readers who love Gothic atmosphere, nineteenth century New England, and novels that wrestle with free will and heredity.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A strange girl in a quiet town
- A young teacher comes to Rockland
- The doctor who reads the signs
- Love, fear and a dangerous attachment
- Fate, blame and a changing science
- How Holmes tells the tale
Who’s who
- Elsie VennerA striking, solitary young woman of Rockland whose strange nature has set her apart, and who longs, in her own fierce way, to be understood and loved.
- Bernard LangdonA young Boston medical student who takes a teaching post in Rockland and becomes drawn to Elsie, pitying and fearing her by turns.
- Dudley VennerElsie's father, a sad and watchful gentleman who loves his daughter and carries the grief of the family's past.
- Dr. KittredgeThe shrewd old country physician who knows the Venner family's story and helps Bernard understand Elsie as a case of nature, not guilt.
- Helen DarleyThe kind and capable teacher at the school, overworked by her employer, who becomes Bernard's friend and steady moral support.
- Silas PeckhamThe stingy and domineering head of the school, who cares more for money than for the students or teachers in his charge.
- Old SophyElsie's devoted old nurse, who has cared for her since infancy and understands her moods better than anyone.
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- Audiobook
- 16 h 2 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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Elsie Venner
by Oliver Wendell Holmes · 1861
A young woman's strange nature sets a New England village judging her, while a teacher and doctor seek understanding.
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In short
Elsie Venner is a novel by Oliver Wendell Holmes, a Boston physician, professor of anatomy and writer. It first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1859 and 1860 and came out as a book in 1861.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A strange girl in a quiet town
The story is set in Rockland, a village in the hills of western Massachusetts. The grandest house there belongs to the Venner family, and in it lives Elsie Venner with her father, Dudley Venner. Elsie is a young woman of striking looks, with dark hair and eyes that seem to glitter. She is moody and proud, and she keeps to herself.
The townspeople whisper about her. Some say she is cold to the touch. Others say that animals behave oddly near her, and that people feel uneasy when she looks straight at them. She is fond of wandering the rocky hillsides alone, and she has a taste for a ledge in the woods that locals avoid because rattlesnakes den there.
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What is Elsie Venner about?
It tells of a young woman in a Massachusetts hill town whose odd, snake-like nature is linked to events before her birth. A young teacher and an old doctor try to understand her and the question of blame.
Why is Elsie Venner called a medical novel?
Holmes was a physician and used the story to explore heredity, prenatal influence and how the body shapes character. The doctors in the book reason about Elsie as a medical case as well as a moral one.
When was Elsie Venner written and published?
Holmes serialized it in the Atlantic Monthly as The Professor's Story in 1859 and 1860. It was then published as a book in 1861 under the title Elsie Venner.
The author
Oliver Wendell Holmes
1809–1894 · American poet and physician
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. (1809–1894) was an American physician, poet, and novelist. He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and died in Boston. He taught medicine at Harvard. His books include The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858), Elsie Venner (1861), and The Poet at the Breakfast-Table (1872).
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