The Man Who Was Poe

by Avi

  “I ask you: in what fashion will your sister live longer? In her life? Or, in this, my story that would have been? Here is what remains of the story you destroyed.” He let the paper flutter to the ground. “Good-bye,” he said, turned, and walked away.

  Edmund watched him go. When he was sure Poe had truly gone, he went to where the paper lay. After a moment, he picked it up and read what the man had written:

  PROLOGUE

  At the far back of the top floor of an Ann Street tenement was a room. It was a small, single-windowed room, not much warmer than the outside, for there was only a solitary candle to heat it. The room contained a table, a chair, and against one wall, a trunk. Opposite the trunk was a narrow bed upon which sat a boy. His name was Edgar.

  The name Edgar was crossed out. In its place a new name had been inked in:

  Edmund.

  POE WAS BORN in Boston in 1809 to actor parents. His father soon after disappeared, and his mother died when Poe was three. Her death was to haunt him all his life. Poe was then taken into the Richmond, Virginia, home of John Allan — hence the name Allan in Poe’s name. As a young man Poe acquired a reputation as a gambler and drinker, causing friction between himself and John Allan, whom Poe had come to detest.

  Running off to Boston, Poe published some early poems but, unable to find employment, he joined the army. Then, in an attempt at reconciliation with Allan, Poe entered West Point. It was not long before he was expelled from the military academy.

  Once again Poe quarreled with Allan and now there was an irrevocable break. Poe went to New York City and then Baltimore where his career as a writer took firm hold; his reputation as a major creator of tales and poems would grow to great heights.

  Poe’s aunt, a Mrs. Clemm — he sometimes called her Aunty — took him in and became much like a mother to him. It was she who helped to arrange a marriage between Poe and her daughter, Virginia, who was but thirteen. At the time he was twenty-seven and his name for her was “Sis.”

  It was in 1841 that Poe published “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” considered to be the first detective story. Auguste Dupin, a Frenchman, was his fictional detective. The year 1845 saw publication of his poem, “The Raven,” which made Poe America’s most famous writer, as well as bringing him international fame.

  In 1847 Virginia died. Poe fell into a period of depression and decline, complicated further by his persistent drinking.

  In 1848, even as he was falling in love with Mrs. Anne Richmond of Lowell, Massachusetts, Poe went to Providence, Rhode Island, where he courted Mrs. Sarah Helen Whitman. It was in Providence that Poe had a daguerreotype made. This portrait, Mrs. Whitman said, showed Poe “immediately after being snatched back from the ultimate world end of horror.”

  Over the objections of her mother, Mrs. Powers, and her own friends, Mrs. Whitman and Poe became engaged. But this engagement was ended by Mrs. Whitman herself when Poe broke his pledge not to drink.

  A year later, in 1849, Poe died in Baltimore under mysterious circumstances.

  AVI’s work spans nearly every genre and has received nearly every major prize, including the Newbery Medal for Crispin: The Cross of Lead and Newbery Honors for Nothing But the Truth and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Avi lives in Denver, Colorado. You can visit him online at www.avi-writer.com.

  Also by Avi

  Escape from Home:

  Beyond the Western Sea Book One

  Into the Storm:

  Beyond the Western Sea Book Two

  Midnight Magic

  Murder at Midnight

  Nothing But the Truth

  Perloo the Bold

  Romeo and Juliet Together (and Alive!) at Last

  Something Upstairs

  The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

  This book was originally published in hardcover by Orchard Books in 1989.

  Copyright © 1989 by Avi. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  This edition first printing, July 2013

  Cover art by Ryan Andrews

  Cover design by Natalie C. Sousa

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-63077-1

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.