Résumé
Résumé de The Belle of Bowling Green
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You will enjoy this if you love romance with a strong sense of place, historical fiction about early America, family rivalries, and the warm details of old New York homes, food and music.
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What does a city sound like on the day it learns it is at war? In The Belle of Bowling Green, it sounds like flags run up at every window, drums in the street, and a girl of eighteen racing upstairs to fetch an old banner that has seen battle.
That girl is Sapphira Bloommaert, the daughter of a respected judge. Amelia E. Barr wrote this romance of old New York about the years of the War of 1812, when Dutch families around the Bowling Green still held the city's heart. Real places and real names like Decatur and Clinton stand beside her proud, warm, quarrelsome invented families. You get a love story and the story of a city, braided together.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A city rallies around the Bowling GreenFree
- 2A father's dislike has no good reason
- 3Love grows through letters and naval victories
- 4A charming stranger arrives from Haiti
- 5Jealousy makes a small cloud at Christmas
- 6A doomed lawyer and a curse spoken in court
- 7A slander, a lost temper, and a rose torn apart
- 8Pride, tongues and trust shape every household
- 9A war, a city, and a Dutch heritage
- 10How the story is told, with song and gentle humor
Point clé 1 sur 10
A city rallies around the Bowling Green
The story opens on the Bowling Green as news of war with England reaches New York. Barr treats the place almost as a character, a spot where cannons face the sea but a green hearthstone welcomes visitors.
Judge Gerardus Bloommaert has built a tall red brick house there. His daughter Sapphira is its chief charm, with dark eyes, nut-brown hair and a queenly walk. Her grandmother, Madame Jonaca Bloommaert, scolds her for smiling while the city is in trouble. Sapphira answers gently that it is not yet time to cry.
Before the family dinner, a crowd gathers in front of the house. A handsome young man calls for a speech, and Sapphira's eyes meet his for a moment. The judge, who opposed the war, declares that there are no Federalists now, only Americans. It is a stirring scene, and it plants a small sting in his pride.
The opening binds a family, a house and a city together by loyalty, humor and a little rivalry.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
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Questions about The Belle of Bowling Green
What is The Belle of Bowling Green about?
It is a romance set in New York during the War of 1812. Sapphira Bloommaert falls in love with Leonard Murray, but her father, a cousin's gossip and a slander against Leonard test their love, while the city fights a war.
Who is Sapphira Bloommaert in the novel?
She is the eighteen-year-old daughter of Judge Gerardus Bloommaert, a famous beauty of the Bowling Green, known to her family as Sappha. She is gentle and loyal, with a strong will that appears under pressure.
Is The Belle of Bowling Green a true story?
It is a novel, but it uses real events of the War of 1812, real places such as the Bowling Green and the Battery, and real figures like Decatur, Mayor Clinton and Aaron Burr. Amelia Barr published it in the early twentieth century.
Why is the Bowling Green important in the book?
It is the small park at the south end of Manhattan, around which the Dutch families built their homes. Barr treats it as the heart of New York, where soldiers, parades, parties and neighbors all meet.
Is this novel easy to read?
It has a clear story, short scenes, lively dialogue and lots of family warmth. The Dutch customs, songs and jokes of the period make it feel like a visit to an old New York parlor.
Cite this edition
Barr, Amelia E. The Belle of Bowling Green. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-belle-of-bowling-green.
Barr, A. E. (2026). The belle of Bowling Green. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-belle-of-bowling-green (Original work published 1904)
Barr, Amelia E. The Belle of Bowling Green. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-belle-of-bowling-green.
@book{barr2026belle,
author = {Barr, Amelia E.},
title = {The Belle of Bowling Green},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-belle-of-bowling-green},
note = {First published 1904}
}
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