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'The Raven's Tale:' O, For A Muse Of Angst

Teenaged, angst-ridden Edgar Allan Poe seems like a great protagonist for a supernatural young adult novel — but The Raven's Tale has some serious flaws that leave a void at the story's heart.
Source: Hulton Archive

America's most macabre poet is tormented by his muse — literally — in this young adult imagining of Edgar Allan Poe's teenage years.

Edgar can't wait to get out of Richmond, where everyone knows him as a charity case who was taken in by the Allan family after his parents died. The problem is that his foster father will only pay for him to go away to university if he gives up writing. But giving up on his brooding, romantic verse is unthinkable,

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