Salt House by Hazel Hawthorne w/ Allison Bass-Riccio - Special Event 8/8

East End Books Ptown Presents: Salt House by Hazel Hawthorne w/ Allison Bass-Riccio - Special Event 8/8 at 6pm

The long out-of-print novel by Hazel Hawthorne is being rereleased by Provincetown Arts Press! Originally published in 1934, Salt House tells the story of a group of young artists and writers who spend their summers in the dunes of Cape Cod, based on Hawthorne’s own experience.

Hazel Hawthorne’s story of a young woman who reinvents herself among the community of writers, artists, and other Bohemians inhabiting the shacks in the dunes, a place where they could escape the societal norms of the time.

Allison Bass-Riccio, an English teacher and writing center coordinator at Cheshire Academy, has spent two years trying to republish the novel "Salt House," first written by Hazel Hawthorne in 1934. Allison and a group of dedicated Cheshire Academy students brought the book back into print.

"Salt House" is a slightly fictionalized account of Hawthorne’s life at the dunes and living amongst other artists, touching upon various topics, including self-actualization, a woman's place in a nuclear family, feminism, friendship and environmentalism.

The novel was controversial at the time of its release due to its more progressive subject matter compared to the attitudes of the era, and was actively hidden in the back of library shelves in local Provincetown and never republished after its initial printing, Riccio said.

Allison said reviews from the 1930s call the work "inappropriate," saying Hawthorne shouldn't have written about these topics.

“And because of that, other artists and writers got a lot more acclaim than she did," Riccio said. "And I always felt that that wasn't fair because as an English teacher, as a writer myself, I thought the book is wonderful. It has great characterization, it has a beautiful setting, and I want students, especially high school and college students to be able to read it today."

After becoming fascinated with Hawthorne’s story, Riccio got many of her original notes, and alongside her students, has been updating, editing, and transcribing the book into a new addition that will see a wider release and bring acclaim to Hawthorne once again so many years later.

Hawthorne herself, born in Middleborough, Mass. in 1901, was known for being very ahead of her time, living for herself out on the dunes and finding company in many other authors at the time, such as Edmund Wilson and E.E Cummings.

Though she never found widespread success in her writings, she continued to invite many aspiring artists to her cabin over the years, which she would continue to hike out to on her own up into her 70s, despite having a physically degenerating condition that made it difficult to walk. She died in 2000.

Also check out other Arts events in Provincetown, Literary Art events in Provincetown.