Frances Parkinson Keyes Books In Order

Publication Order of Blue Camellia Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Frances Parkinson Wheeler was born in the year 1885 to John Wheeler in Charlottesville. Her father served as the Greek Department chairperson at the University of Virginia. After the death of her father, Parkinson’s mother remarried and then moved to New England with the entire family. Keyes had to split the time she had between Newbury and Massachusetts. Upon moving to New England, Keyes attended private schools in Genève, Switzerland, Boston and Berlin Germany. During her school years, Frances traveled widely across the world. At 18 years, Frances Keyes got married to Henry Keyes and moved to Pine Groove farm which was Henry’s family estate. Frances and Henry had a total of three sons.

Henry Keyes got involved in politics and was even elected to the House of Representatives in New Hampshire. Keyes was later elected to the state senate and finally as a governor. Several years later after serving as a governor, Keyes was elected to the Senate where he served for 18 years. After her husband had died in the year 1938, Frances spent most of her time traveling across the United States and Europe before finally deciding to settle at New Orleans, Louisiana. Keyes became a professional writer during the 1920’s when she wrote her very first series, Letters from a Senator’s wife and Good Housekeeping. She also served as a contributing editor between the year 1923 and 1935. Furthermore, Frances also wrote about her life as the wife of a politician in two different memoirs, All Flags Flying and Capital Kaleidoscope.

Before meeting her death, Keyes published a total of 50 novels and in each of this novels, she managed to demonstrate her versatility especially on subject matters and the settings. She also managed to reflect on the several geographical locations that she visited during her childhood and adulthood life. Three novels managed to sell over 1 million copies each, and they include Dinner at Antoine’s, The River Road and Came a Cavalier. The novel, Dinner at Antoine’s is a murder mystery novel, which is based on the iconic New Orleans restaurant. This is one of her well-known works. Furthermore, what made most of her novels stand out from the rest was the fact that Keyes did extensive research when it came to geographical and cultural background research.

She from time to time had to not only move to the regions that she was to use as the setting for her novels, but she also purchased property in the region so that she could truly have an in-depth knowledge of what she was writing about. A good example is General Pierre, who was a local of Louisiana and was featured many of the times in her novels. For the remaining decade of her life, Keyes had purchased a home in Louisiana. Towards the end of her writing career, Keyes had already expanded her writing interests; thus, she was not penning down poetry, but she was also writing short stories and inspirational holiday volumes. After her husband’s death, Keyes converted to Catholicism, and this conversion contributed so much to her writing especially on religious subjects both nonfiction and fiction.

The Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia holds the manuscripts and the papers, which are relevant to her books on Christian missions and religion. The library also holds important copies of her research and novels about the Steamboat Gothic, in which she had employed two students of the University.

Joy Street

Joy Street is a well-developed romantic novel, which has been based on Beacon Hill and the environs of Boston. In this installment, personality types are the focus of the book instead of the city’s personality. The author, Ms. Keyes introduces the reader to Emily Thayer and Roger Field, two lovers who are not only idealistic but also aspiring to get out of the shells of their upbringing. Apart from these two characters, the author has also developed some unique characters. While their marriage story is supposed to be about how they were raised, this story is about the circumstances, which surround these two characters. The protagonist, Emily’s mind, and heart accept the peculiarities while her emotions reject the divergences from the normal. Roger dies before the end of the book while Emily remarries again after the death of her husband.

All in all, the author gives a detailed description of Boston, the beautiful and well-designed Porsche houses, the professional and businesses offices, the restaurants and the courtrooms. Furthermore, the author has also given intimate details of the food and clothes, together with all the detailed decorations that any of her fans would expect. The book’s minor characters were well developed and were more real with lots of principals. Some of the minor characters include the patrician monarch, their grandmother. The story telling is quite phenomenal, thus making this installment an excellent read.

Blue Camilla

Blue Camilla is one of the best-selling novels by the author and is based on Louisiana’s cultivation history. This story begins as one; Brent makes up his mind to purchase a land in Louisiana. Brent together with his wife is the offspring of settlers who mainly relied on farming as a source of livelihood. The book begins as the two have survived an extremely strong winter, which left the protagonist extremely ill. This story is not about the move that the two characters had to make but also is about a shady land auction and the assimilation of the family into a Creole population. Upon moving, their only daughter Lavinia becomes a tomboy and begins to run in the wild with the children of rural Creole. However, upon growing up, she turns into a strong willed woman who is exceedingly competent. As a full-time farmer, Brent not only plants but also studies and develops some of the best rice in the region.

Despite the fact that all the characters in the book prosper, they all have a share of their joys and sorrows. Lavinia not only suffers a great loss but also a heartbreak. However, in the end, she turns out well. With that being said, the research that the author has done is exceedingly great due to the time that she spent with the locals of Boston. The author’s detailed description and her attention to detail are outstanding.