Deepwater by Pamela Jekel

But what you’ll have instead will be burnished and hardened and battle-proven as this land. And that, to me, is a richer love. It’s a real marriage.

Deepwater is a very chunky book (with tiny font!) set in the Cape Fear region of North Carolina. The story spans several generations, from 1711 through the end of the Civil War and Restoration period. The prologue begins with the lost settlement of Roanoke (including the author’s spin on what happened to those who went missing), and is then broken into three parts. In the first, sisters Tess and Glory Hannock aren’t willing to let something like a marriage separate them when Tess marries a dashing privateer. It isn’t true love forever, but Tess isn’t one to let that stop her and through her experiences we watch the colony grow and prosper until those little disputes with the King over taxation without representation get started…

The second section is centered around Tess’s niece Della (younger sister Glory’s daughter). Della’s been spoiled and travelled abroad, and when she comes home she hones in on wealthy plantation owner Phillip Gage and she’s determined to marry him and become mistress of Deepwater. Phillip is loyal to King George, so you can imagine things get a bit complicated when just about everyone else is on the rebel side, including his wife. The last third of the book begins in 1850 and is centered around Phillips heir, Laurel Gage. Laurel marries a Quaker and owning slaves is not the *done thing* for him, but paying for labor takes its toll on Deepwater and slowly eats away at the acreage and profits.

That’s about all you need to know. This is one of those books that is too difficult to recap without writing a book report, and I’m not of a mind to do it. I liked this a lot, especially as the story focused on the people and the land, there really wasn’t a lot of interaction with real historical characters. Better still, despite the two wars involved in the story, there are no real battle scenes, nor are they touched upon in any great detail – no endless info dumps telling the reader about every major battle in excruciating detail. How refreshing. The only downside that might be a deal breaker is that these aren’t a set of characters you’re going to get emotionally involved with; nor do any of the three women have a great *love story*. If you’re looking for romance, I suggest you keep on looking.

Last quibble, and nothing to do with the book itself, but part of the publisher’s blurb:

Seleta…The wife of a Quaker abolitionist, she saw her beloved land fall to the Yankees. Yet is wasn’t the horror of war that became her greatest challenge…it was her battle to save her young son.

Ummmm, Seleta was Laurel’s daughter and wasn’t a grown woman with children until well towards the end of the book and she was pretty much out of the picture by then.

It’s a good thing you-know-who hasn’t reviewed it. Then we’d finally know whether or not she reads the books :)

Roanoke Hundred by Inglis Fletcher

Tags

Richard Grenville, Roanoke Virginia, Walter Raleigh

On the Island of Roanoke the green vines of the grape and the wicked brambles twined riotously over the falling dwellings of the First Colony. Bushes grew thick and rank along the broken palisades.

Roanoke Hundred is the first in a fairly lengthy series called the Carolina Chronicles. Story info and series order on these books is rather sparse, and some reader sites (LT isn’t the only one to have them listed this way) have the series order listed by publication date, which isn’t necessarily the chronological order. My copy of Roanoke Hundred clearly says “Book 1″, with books 2-6 being listed on the inside flap as Bennett’s Welcome, Men of Albermarle, Lusty Wind for Carolina, Raleigh’s Eden and Toll of the Brave. The nice folks at Goodreads have this list as the chronological order of the books, but that list has twelve books! It looks like book two takes place about 100 years after the end of Roanoke Island, so I’m not sure yet if there’s any character follow-up from Roanoke Hundred, or if each book stands alone. Are you confused? I am, but I will be tackling these as I can get my hands on them and try to resolve the mystery once and for all.

Anyhoo, this book is about the second expedition to the new world organized by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585 and led by Sir Richard Grenville. Despite the title, the first third of the book is set in England, as Raleigh gathers support and funds for his expedition, preparing for the voyage, as well as learning more about Sir Richard’s home and family in Cornwall. Several men from Sir Richard’s household will be going, including Colin, a young herd-boy who bears a rather strong resemblance to the Grenville men (wrong side of the blanket, perhaps?). The middle third of the book details the voyage to Roanoke (including run ins with the Spanish), and events when they arrived. Sir Richard eventually takes his fleet home with the promise to return with more supplies the next year, and leaves his hundred men behind, including Colin. Colin is then the focus of the book as we see the difficulties he and his companions face in a new and dangerous land, especially hindered as they were by the man left in charge – Ralph Lane. As Fletcher portrays him, Lane is less interested in storing supplies for the winter and building shelter, and more interested in grabbing what wealth he can get his hands on. He was also pretty darned good at antagonizing the Indians, which didn’t help matters any.

While there is a romantic storyline with young Colin and Grenville’s ward Thomasine, you should know that the book blurb and covers are very misleading – there were no women on that expedition.

I don’t want my squires thinking of women. They must have their minds free to think of nothing but the land of Virginia. Let Virginia be their mistress.

All in all I did enjoy this book, although it is a bit dry and heavy on the details at times, plus I’m not overly fond of battles at sea. I would read a small chunk of it and then put it down for a few days to read other books and then come back to it. Despite those quibbles, I would definitely recommend it to those interested in early American history. 4/5 stars.

Love these older covers, click on any image to enlarge.

Follow the River by James Alexander Thom

Sunday, July 8, 1755, Draper’s Meadow, Virginia. The Shawnee Indians launch a surprise attack on the settlement, killing most, but taking some prisoners, including a very pregnant Mary Draper Ingles and her two young sons. The captives are taken on a long journey to Shawnee Town, where they are somewhat assimilated into the community, Mary is sold as a slave and her sons are *adopted* by one of the Indian chiefs. Mary rebels at being another man’s slave and yearns to escape and return home to her husband, and she and Dutch woman Ghetel finally get their chance to leave – but there’s a terrible cost involved – winter is coming on and it is a long long way back to Draper’s Meadow.

On the eleventh day of their freedom they had to walk five miles upstream and then five miles downstream to get around another creek that had barred their progress up the bank of the O-y-o.

One thousand miles, and only the clothes on their backs (already in rags) and what food they are able to gather along the way. Mary had memorized the landscape on the journey to Shawnee Town and she’s sure she can find her way back by following the river – but there’s still the matter of food which becomes scarcer and scarcer as winter begins, and it’s a bit gruesome what some folks will do for food,

There were not even any worms now. There was no soil at the river’s edge, only rock. And up the slopes; the ground had hardened with cold; if there were earthworms in it, they had burrowed deep.

Mary Ingels and her story is a true one and you can read more about her on the internet if you care to spoil yourself. I enjoyed this book, and found Mary’s story fascinating, but take fair warning – this is not the book for everyone. Mary faces some very difficult decisions before setting out, decisions that might not sit well with some readers. The conditions on the return trip and what Mary and Ghetel are forced to endure and things they are forced to eat are not pretty, and the author doesn’t pull any punches sugar-coating it. 4/5 stars.

FTC, Kindle edition obtained via library loan.

Our Lives, Our Fortunes by Janice Young Brooks

Tags

North Carolina

Basic setup: Lilia’s father dies unexpectedly without a will and everything goes to a distant cousin who isn’t interested in sharing the money with anyone. With no dowry and not willing to live penniless on another’s bounty, she convinces family servant Rob MacAllister to marry her and they head for the colonies to seek their fame and fortune. They purchase what they believe to be a large piece of land with a home along the Cape Fear river in North Carolina, but it isn’t quite as represented – all they find is a narrow strip of land hotly disputed between the two neighboring plantation owners.

Lilia and Rob aren’t willing to sell, even though their efforts at raising indigo have lackluster results. Tragedy strikes (doesn’t it always?) and Lilia’s left in quite a pickle and she uses her ownership of that land to blackmail wiggle her way into the *cough* loving arms of the Gordon family. Surprisingly to some, Lilia adapts well to her new home, but things are not smooth sailing between she and her new husband and misunderstandings and petty jealousies abound (oh boy, do the petty jealousies abound).

I’ve really enjoyed reading JYB’s books and have a few more on the pile, but this one just didn’t work well for me, especially the latter half. I love a bitch we love to hate as much as the next person, but Nichola was just too OTT and slutty to the point of straining credulity, and the big misunderstandings surrounding her wore very thin after a while. It was also unfortunate that the events leading up to and through the American Revolution mostly happened *off-screen* so the reader only hears about them second-hand, ending up with too much telling instead of showing. Bah. Not recommended.

FTC? A genuine Amazon Verified purchase.

The Fires of July by Sharon Salvato

Tags

South Carolina

The Mannings of South Carolina are ruled by family patriarch Elizabeth. Older brother John holds the family’s Lowland rice plantation and Joseph ekes out his livelihood in the acreage he’s given in hills of the “Upcountry”. While the colonies chafe at English rule without representation, Carolina itself is rife with tension between the Lowlanders of Charles Town and residents of the Upcountry who feel they don’t receive equal support and protection of the government as outlaws are allowed to roam the countryside unpunished. Frustrated, the more radical of them have formed their own *police* force, the Regulators. Joseph’s younger son Andrew (Drew) is an ardent supporter of the movement, but his political leanings set him at odds with both his City cousins and the woman he was betrothed to at a young age, the cold-blooded self-centered and oh-so-haughty Joanna Templeton. 

Drew knows that Joanna is the wrong woman for him, but is unwilling to dishonor his family by breaking the contract, let alone ticking off Joanna, but when he meets Laurel Boggs he decides she’s the woman for him. Laurel’s humble beginnings with her trashy family gets him disinherited as well as earning Joanna’s eternal hatred, but he and Laurel look forward to building their own plantation in the upcountry – that is until an act of revenge taken against Drew for his activities with the Regulators sets their life on unexpected paths.

Despite the appearances of the cover and the plot description, there’s a lot more to this than just a romance, and any sex in this is very tame. I found myself rather torn about this one, I really liked learning how divided Carolina was between the city folk and those of the upper country, along with the building tensions as some support independence and others remain loyal to the crown. Matriarch Elizabeth Manning was a lot of fun, especially with her schemes and plots to get her beloved grandson Drew and —- together. As for the relationship between Drew and Laurel and the subsequent love triangle? I liked it, but at times it seemed a bit forced and considering Drew can only end up with one woman in the end, it was fairly easy to guess that *something* was going to *happen* to bring it about. Drew also was a bit self-centered for most of the book, but that might be chalked up to his young age – I’ll withhold judgment until I read more in the sequel, The Drums of December, as war breaks out and further divides the Colonies and the Manning clan. 3.5/5 stars.

Liliane by Annabel Erwin

When her husband is murdered by Bonaparte’s soldiers, Liliane has little choice but to flee France with her young daughter and join her sister in Virginia. Unfortunately, Liliane arrives at Cloudmont to find her sister dead of a sudden (and mysterious) illness. The Madison family welcomes Liliane into their home and she and her daughter Melisse fit quite nicely into the household – and that includes her sister’s widower Andrew who is most definitely the marrying kind. Or is she more attracted to Andrew’s brother George, the dashing sea-captain who prefers the bachelor life?

Liliane soon finds that her sister was very different at Cloudmont from the one she grew up with. What could have happened to turn her into such a termagant? Why would she beat her son Andy? Was her death just a tragedy, or did someone wish her harm? Andrew professes love to Liliane and wants to marry her, but what deep dark secret does he keep that could shatter all their lives? What about the slaves who suddenly seethe with resentment towards their white masters? Inquiring minds want to know.

While this is written in the first person narrative (not my favorite) I have to say the author did a good job with putting Liliane where she needed to be to *witness* the action. No hiding in cupboards or peeping through keyholes here, nor any endless recounts of history. Whew! The author gives the reader a lovely glimpse of plantation life (I am so craving turkey right now), as well as the gay balls and society of Richmond. And don’t judge this book by its cover, old *skool* romance or not any sex that happens in this book is pretty much all done behind closed doors. A quick, easy read and perfect for a beach book. 3/5 stars.

 FTC, I know you’re terribly concerned about the source for this long forgotten OOP. Rest assured, it came via a book swap. The world is still safe.