After 33 years, former SCDS headmaster strikes literary gold with 'Little Book'

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:08:00 GMT

By Calvin Fernandez, Page Editor

The cover of 'The Little Book,' by Selden Edwards.

Six years ago it was common to see an Albus Dumbledore-esque figure strolling around campus. His tall form and graying head popped into classrooms, played basketball at recess, and, in the springtime, delivered the Gettysburg Address in a top hat and tails to a group of fifth graders spoiling for battle. “He loved his job. The one thing that I remember about him here was his incredible enthusiasm and energy,” said Wendy Ross, director of institutional relations, about retired headmaster and faux Abe Lincoln Selden Edwards. Five years after retiring, Edwards is everywhere again, but this time on the back cover of his new and first-ever novel, “The Little Book.” Currently number six on a list of bestsellers from independent bookstores, and number 32 on The New York Times Best Seller List, Edwards’s “The Little Book” has been reviewed extensively—”about 20 times” according to Edwards, a resident of Santa Barbara. It has been reviewed in length by the Santa Barbara Independent and has had two national reviews on National Public Radio and in USA Today. “It is sort of startling to see your name and your book in a major newspaper or magazine,” Edwards said. “I do find myself asking ‘How did this happen?’ “You play soccer, right? How would you like to have the Stanford coach call you up and offer you a full scholarship?” Edwards asked this reporter, trying to explain how his life has changed. The day Dutton, his publishing company, bought “The Little Book,” in February 2007, Edwards, now 68, says he jumped up and down with excitement. “It was extraordinary. When they [Dutton] bought it, they made such a big deal out of it that I knew it would be a real hit. It was a total dream,” he said. Edwards began working on his novel in 1974 at Stanford University for a professor as an independent study project. “I loved writing and wanted to write fiction. I started writing short stories in the ‘60s, and then I thought I wanted to try writing a novel. I’ve wanted to have a novel almost my whole professional life.” After the completion of “The Little Book” in 1975, Edwards sent his rough draft around to publishers, beginning a cycle of rejection and revision that would last 33 years. “I wrote it over and over again,” Edwards said. “You get the rejection letter repeatedly. It’s like getting an ‘F.’ “It was practically manic-depressive. I would feel great when I was writing, and then I would feel terrible when it was rejected.” After each rejection, Edwards was so down that he would put the book away. But “it would always stay in my head,” he said. The book, in its final form, chronicles the life of rock-star Wheeler Burden, a 47-year-old Californian in 1988, who finds himself transported to 1897 Vienna. There he meets an eclectic group of people, including Sigmund Freud, Mark Twain, Adolf Hitler (then eight years old), his future grandmother, and his own, much younger father. “I think it actually needed 33 years to come together. The work he did over the last two years really made the difference,” said Ben Sevier, senior editor at Dutton. “I was blown away.” The paperback version of “The Little Book” will come out in a year, and, Edwards said, there is a possibility that the book will be turned into a movie. “Bookstores are now asking for appearances. There are about 10 scheduled now, and they just keep happening. It’s pretty consuming but it’s my major project. It’s totally a dream.” Retired? Hardly. On top of his already busy schedule, Edwards admitted that he is working on a second novel but wouldn’t disclose any further details. New York Times best-selling author Pat Conroy wrote on the book jacket, “Selden Edwards’s ‘The Little Book’ is a wonderful novel, and I think it has a chance to become a famous one. I’ve never read a novel like it. And I felt like my life was changing forever as I savored its many delights and mysteries.” Edwards was overwhelmed by the early reception of his book. Both Conroy and author Richard Ford read “The Little Book” manuscript and agreed to blurb it. “I knew Richard Ford from Squaw Valley in the early ‘70s,” Edwards explained. “I did not know Pat Conroy, but I have a novelist friend who does, and she gave me his address. I wrote him a long letter, and Dutton sent the manuscript.” According to Edwards, Ford rarely, if ever, gives blurbs. Now Edwards gets calls and e-mails from people he hasn’t seen in years. Even students of his from the ‘60s have contacted him, he said. “A few months ago, if you Googled my name, there were just a handful of references, some about a young basketball player in Virginia,” he said. “Now there are too many to count. It sort of takes my breath away.” Edwards will visit Country Day on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 7 p.m. in the Winters Library and at 12:05 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, at the high school’s Book Club. in Matthews Library.