Left in the Wind by Ed Gray

Rating: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Netgalley

Read: August 21, 2016

In 1587, the 118 men, women, and children of the "Lost Colony" were abandoned by their governor on what is now Roanoke Island, North Carolina, and never heard from again. In this fictional journal, Emme Merrimoth—one of the actual colonists of Roanoke—recounts the harrowing journey that brought the colonists to the New World. During the voyage, Emme becomes involved with Governor John White, who reassigns her to his household and then asks her to marry him. With no better prospects and happy to be free of her bland former employers, Emme agrees. Once on Roanoke, the colonist restore the village abandoned by former English settlers and realize, when faced with hostile natives, that they have been misled by White. White plots to return to England to avoid the hardship of the New World, and he and his supporters drive a hard bargain with the colonists: they will send back much-needed supplies from England if they allow White to flee without interference. Faced with little choice, the colonists agree, and are left to fare on their own. Emme, due to a scandalous past, is accused of witchcraft, shunned by the colonists, and enslaved by a nearby tribe. But throughout these dramatic turn of events, Emme commits herself to putting down on paper her every memory of the Lost Colony.

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I wish I’d read the reviews of Ed Gray’s Left in the Wind: A Novel of the Lost Colony: The Roanoke Journal of Emme Merrimoth before picking it up. Gray's thesis is intriguing, but his presentation isn’t the kind I appreciate and the creative license exercised by the author has forever tainted my interest in the early settlement. I know that sounds dramatic, but it's true. I'll never be able to think of John White or Ananias Dare the same way again.

My biggest issue with the narrative is that I couldn’t stand its heroine. Emme enjoys many deep moments of erotic ecstasy over the course of the story and while I’ve nothing against sexually confident women, I was intensely disappointed, and more than a little offended, by Gray’s failure to develop any other aspect of her personality and character. I recognized no genuine substance in her being and I couldn’t help feeling outraged by the insinuation that a woman has no other desire, form, or function. Emme, unfortunately, is not the only character to suffer from lack of depth and development. The male members of the cast fall into one of two categories: those who want to bed Emme and those who don’t. They've virtually no complexity in their make-up and here again, I was not impressed with the oversight.

I’ll grant that Gray put a great deal of time and research into the novel and I admire that most of the cast are based on real life individuals, but while I found the period details interesting, I was disappointed to realize that much of the meritable material was overshadowed by far-fetched situational drama. I found Emme’s abduction overtly coincidental, her physical and psychological adaptability thoroughly unsubstantiated, and her ability to induce lactation, while plausible, highly improbable under the circumstances of her existence and understanding. I liked the political intrigue well enough, but when push comes to shove the fate of the colonists plays second fiddle to Emme's steady parade of paramours so I don't see that my admiration means very much in the grand scheme of things.

My final criticism is the structure of the story or more appropriately, the lack there of. Gray assumes his readers are familiar with the venture so there is little exposition which didn't bother me as a) I am familiar with the history and b) Emme isn't really involved in too much of the politics anyway. You read that correctly folks, most of the story happens around Emme. She is not an active participant until the end when she is abruptly thrust into the climax of the story as the unlikely voice of truth. She’s largely disassociated from the plight of her fellows so the key moment felt awkward anyway, but things only got worse from that as the novel ended without firm resolution. There is a moment, tacked on years later as a bit of an afterthought, but it doesn't provide a definition sense of closure and left me wondering why I'd bothered reading the book at all.

When all is said and done, Left in the Wind was not my kind of book and is not something I see myself recommending forward.

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Though some in our company had been moved by the speech, I had my doubts. Men's protestations of grand intentions I had heard in some quantity, and long ago I had decided that most were a mask to hide the speaker's real purpose. 

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Roanoke: The Lost Colony by Angela Elwell Hunt

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Personal Kindle Library

Read: February 03, 2016

The enduring mystery of what happened to the first English colony in the New World... In 1587, a group of would-be colonists set sail from England and later landed on Roanoke Island, now part of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Their ship returned to England and the settlers were never heard from again. This is the story, based on legendary and historical information, of what might have happened to them. Jocelyn White, a newlywed married to Thomas Coleman, is reluctant to leave her home in England for the wild shores of the New World. The journey is fraught with danger, but her dependence on God and God's providence carry her safely through. 

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1585 map of the east coast of North America from the
Chesapeake Bay to Cape Lookout by John White

I knew the history of Roanoke prior to purchasing Angela Elwell Hunt’s Roanoke: The Lost Colony, but my interest in the novel didn’t begin with its subject matter. Truth be told, I stumbled over the book because I wanted to read one of its sequels. Unfortunately, the jacket description on Charles Town led me to believe the Keepers of the Ring series built on one another so rather than breaking sequence and jumping in at book five, I redirected my attention to book one. 

I’ll grant it’s not the most auspicious start, but I’ve opened books on a lot less so let’s not get caught up on the details. Roanoke: The Lost Colony actually has a few things going for it and while certain elements of novel left me wanting, there was enough going on to hold my interest and satisfy my famously particular tastes. 

Fair warning to all, the religious aspects of the novel are not subtle, but I felt Hunt’s themes blended well with the historic details of her fiction. I know I’m in the minority when I say this, but I enjoy this kind of balance and am always impressed with writers who take the time and care to create it. Hunt obviously put a lot into researching the colony, but she put equal thought into integrating her message of faith into the material and I truly appreciated how to two complement one another as the story progressed. 

I felt Jocelyn a likable heroine, and I appreciate much in both Audrey and Rowtag, but like many other reviewers, I struggled to appreciate Thomas. His views are rather extreme and while I’ve no problem with difficult characters, I felt his arc awkward and forced. I greatly enjoyed his entry and introduction, but his personality fractures and takes a seemingly unnatural tangent. In looking back at the book, I have to admit his character confused me and even now, I’m not entirely sure what Hunt was trying to accomplish with his role. 

I found the pacing tedious, but became addicted to the authenticity and harsh descriptions of Hunt’s narrative. Christian fiction is usually positive and upbeat, but Roanoke: The Lost Colony is decidedly bittersweet. Hunt allowed history to shape this story and while I recognize how disappointing that is for some readers, I personally respected the author more for her adherence to the historic record. 

As a family saga, I can’t say the Keepers of the Ring series has much on Jack Cavanaugh’s American Family Portrait, but I enjoyed the time I spent with piece and look forward to tackling additional installments in the near future.  

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“Let each family draw together tonight for prayer. Let each man fight on the morrow for his life. And let us be confident that in this, as in all things, God’s will must be done.”

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The Last American Vampire by Seth Grahame-Smith

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Netgalley

Read: December 20, 2014

In Reconstruction-era America, vampire Henry Sturges is searching for renewed purpose in the wake of his friend Abraham Lincoln's shocking death. It will be an expansive journey that will first send him to England for an unexpected encounter with Jack the Ripper, then to New York City for the birth of a new American century, the dawn of the electric era of Tesla and Edison, and the blazing disaster of the 1937 Hindenburg crash. Along the way, Henry goes on the road in a Kerouac-influenced trip as Seth Grahame-Smith ingeniously weaves vampire history through Russia's October Revolution, the First and Second World Wars, and the JFK assassination. Expansive in scope and serious in execution, The Last American Vampire is sure to appeal to the passionate readers who made Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter a runaway success.

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Every reader I know has a guilty pleasure and I am no exception. Some like steamy romances, others favor straight-up erotica, but I myself gravitate to steampunk and paranormal fiction which is how I discovered Seth Grahame-Smith back in 2010. I'd just reread Pride and Prejudice and feeling game for a laugh, I decided to follow it up with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. 

Honestly I found the book amusing, but I wasn't overly impressed with the title, so I very nearly passed when a local bookseller recommended Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Please excuse the pun, but I like books I can sink my teeth into and while my first experience with Grahame-Smith had been entertaining, I'd found Pride and Prejudice and Zombies fluffy and I didn't consider a second go round particularly promising. Fortunately for all, I ignored my initial impulse and threw the recommendation on top of my other purchases. 

For the record, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a much better book than it is a movie. It is playful and dark, but it is also remarkably clever. Grahame-Smith wove several elements of Lincoln's life into the fabric of his fiction and placed some very imaginative twists on Civil War battles like Bull Run and Antietam. The author's inclusion of headliners such as Edgar Allan Poe, William H. Seward, Stephen A. Douglas, George B. McClellan, and John Wilkes Booth further emphasized his appreciation for the history on which the story was based and brought a unique dynamic to a genre typically void of authentic detail. In short, I loved it. 

Naturally, this appreciation prompted significant enthusiasm for The Last American Vampire (Bout time I got round to the book in question eh?). A sequel for lack of a better term, Grahame-Smith's latest release reunites readers with Henry Sturges and chronicles the vampiric history of America from Roanoke to the assassination of JFK while tying Abe's enigmatic mentor to the Whitechapel Murders and the October Revolution. Notable cameos represent a who's who of history with appearances by Abraham Lincoln, Adam Fitzroy Plantagenet, Frederick Abberline, Sir Henry Irving, Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, John White, Virginia Dare, Nikola Tesla, Mark Twain, Theodore Roosevelt, Felix Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Grigori Rasputin, Alexei Nikolaevich, John D. Rockefeller, Chief Powhatan, John Smith, Niels Bohr, J. Edgar Hoover, Eliot Ness, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Howard Hughes, Lee Harvey Oswald, John F. Kennedy and Jack Ruby.

So what are my thoughts? Did The Last American Vampire live up to its predecessor or did it fall short like Grahame-Smith's adaptation of Austen's classic? Honestly, I think it somewhere in between. The historic scope of the novel appealed to my interests and I get a kick out of Grahame-Smith's sense of humor, but feel the execution lacked necessary cohesion and question the significance of much of the material in relation to Henry's pursuit of Grander. It's a fun piece, but much like Norrington's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the final product fails to meet its full potential. 

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Just as the towering myth of Abraham Lincoln—honest backwoods lawyer, spinner of yarns, righter of wrongs—tells only part of the truth, so, too, is the myth of America woefully incomplete. The country that Ronald Reagan once called “a shining city upon a hill” has, in fact, been tangled up in darkness since before she was born. Millions of souls have graced the American stage over the centuries, played parts both great and small, and made their final exits. But of all the souls who witnessed America’s birth and growth, who fought in her finest hours, and who had a hand in her hidden history, only one soul remains to tell the whole truth.

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The Lost Duchess by Jenny Barden

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Obtained from: Author/Netgalley

Read: December 2, 2013

An epic Elizabethan adventure with a thriller pace and a high tension love story that moves from the palaces of England to the savage wilderness of the New World. Emme Fifield has fallen about as far as a gentlewoman can. Once a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, her only hope of surviving the scandal that threatens to engulf her is to escape England for a fresh start in the new America where nobody has ever heard of the Duchess of Somerset. Emme joins Kit Doonan's rag-tag band of idealists, desperados and misfits bound for Virginia. But such a voyage will be far from easy and Emme finds her attraction to the mysterious Doonan inconvenient to say the least. As for Kit, the handsome mariner has spent years imprisoned by the Spanish, and living as an outlaw with a band of escaped slaves; he has his own inner demons to confront, and his own dark secrets to keep... Ever since Sir Walter Raleigh's settlement in Virginia was abandoned in 1587 its fate has remained a mystery; 'The Lost Duchess' explores what might have happened to the ill-starred 'Lost Colony' of Roanoke.

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Baptism of Virginia Dare. Lithograph by William A. Crafts.

The Roanoke venture and the fate of the Lost Colony is an endlessly fascinating tale of courage, intrigue, and mystery in its own right, but Jenny Barden takes it one step farther, utilizing the 1587 attempt to settle the island as the backdrop of a sweeping sixteenth century romance. 

The Lost Duchess is a provocative and imaginative historical, but I was pleased to discover it is also exceedingly well-researched. Embellishing where possible, Barden is ever conscious of the history behind her work. From Raleigh's politically motivated interest in the New World to John White's desperate bid to bring relief to the ill-fated settlement, Barden took obvious care to ensure her narrative compliment the known timeline of events and as someone with a keen interest in the facts, I found her dedication to accuracy both admirable and appealing.

The originality of Barden's cast affected similar appreciation. Emme Fifield's adventurous spirit is countered by an intense vulnerability, the product of a shame she would do anything to hide. Emme, however, is not the only passenger packing secrets to the wilds of North America. Fiercely protective of his own colored history, Kit Doonan struggles to shoulder his responsibilities in the face of adversity and deny the pride that would jeopardize those closest to his heart. 

A wonderfully imagined story of adventure, conquest and rebellion, The Lost Duchess is a brilliantly evocative reimagining of one of Colonial America's most enigmatic and enduring mysteries. 

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"There will be no safe passage. You must die. All of you. We are the mighty nation of the Choanokes, the Secotans, the Weapemeocs and the Roanokes, and we will not rest until our land is cleansed of you and all invaders. For the misery you have brought us, for your lies and treachery, we give you death in return."

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