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Bedtime Wonders

Writer's pictureAngel Yanica Bingil

Her Last Masterpiece

Words are powerful. It can either bring joyful inspiration or painful destruction. Indeed a dangerously beautiful form of art. In the case of Barbara Follett, she loved words more than anything and anyone. Her passion for words formed an unbreakable bond between her and her typewriter. Her innate talent and intelligence were exceptional, but one day she fell deep into her narratives and had suddenly vanished.



Barbara Follett was a genius American novelist. Born on March 4, 1914, she was raised by parents Wilson Follett a literary editor, critic, and university lecturer, and Helen Thomas Follett, a children's book writer. Her innate talent in writing certainly ran in her genes. Her mom educated her at home, and at an early age, Barbara shows interest in reading and scribbling. She wrote her first poem when she was four.



She was a wise and imaginative lady since she was young, just definitely outstanding. She published her story "The House Without Windows" at age 9 in 1923.



The book foretells a story of a young lady Eeperesip, who live cheerfully with nature and animal friends, and fled from home. Yet, her original copy was consumed in a house fire. Later she again composed the entire story. She wrote more stories and had managed to publish with her father's supervision. Her early success then hailed her as the child prodigy. In 1928, she experienced a family problem when her father cheated and left her mother for another woman. Barbara was 16 years old when the Great Depression took place, however, she managed to work as a secretary in The New York Times around then.



Barbara Follett then met Nickerson Rogers in the late spring of 1931. Following three years of fellowship, the couple married in July 1934. They settled in Brookline. Barbara still composed stories at that time, however, her work wasn't anymore favored by publishers. She then began to feel unfulfilled with her marriage. She even showed her anxieties in her letters to her friends. She later became depressed as to acknowledging her husband's unfaithfulness. As indicated by Rogers, on December 7, 1937, she left the apartment after an argument with her husband and was never seen again. Till about fourteen days after her vanishing, Roger didn't report an FIR of a missing person. When asked, he addressed that he was trusting that Follett will return. Following 35 years of Follett's vanishing, her mom asserted that the police didn't research reasonably. Follett's mom was additionally suspicious about Rogers' part in her little girl's disappearance. Follett's body was never found, and the details of her vanishing are still a mystery until now. It's been said that her disappearance uncannily resembles the last paragraph in her final book. “She would be invisible forever to all mortals, save those few who have minds to believe, eyes to see, to these she is ever-present, the spirit of Nature—a sprite of the meadow, a naiad of lakes, a nymph of the woods.”


Words can certainly take us anywhere, but Barbara seemed to be taken away forever.


Have a wonderful night everyone!




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