The period of 1828 to 1865 is considered the “Golden Age” of American literature, with Boston as a major American publishing hub, second only to New York City. Publishing houses dotted the city, and daily sightings of legendary authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. and James Russell Lowell was commonplace.
We meet William Lee: A gifted publisher with a photographic memory and talent for selling. William’s star rises at Philips, Sampson and Company, which quickly becomes the top publisher in town. The pressures of maintaining a secret relationship with an employee of his firm, and his new responsibilities as Partner, start to wear on William. Participating in a historic opportunity to publish “The Atlantic Magazine” and a historic blunder of turning down the opportunity to publish “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, his life begins to unravel.
A trip to France offers William a new perspective on what he wants from life, and a case of mistaken identity lands him in a French prison for twelve days.
Upon returning to Boston, William starts his own publishing house and marries his beloved. The firm of Lee and Shepard finds its calling, eschewing high-brow literary projects for popular fiction amongst children and young adult readers. But the Great Boston Fire and his wife’s sudden death are almost too much to bear, and William considers quitting. His decision to not give up rewards him, when he has the opportunity to serve the cause of justice by publishing the recently deposed Queen of Hawaii’s autobiography.
