To Have and To Hold

Despite it's name, this book is far from a mushy romance novel. Captain Ralph Percy, a stern soldier and homesteader in this new world of the colonies, is the narrator of the story. Through his eyes we can see the rocky beginnings of the country we now call the United States.

Life was hard for the early settlers around Jamestown. There was always the fear of hunger, disease, of wild animals, and the Indians. But to the men who first founded Jamestown there was another problem.

They had no wives.

And the fragile new colony faced extinction.

To remedy this problem, King James the first filled up several ships with lower class women. Girls who had strong bodies from working the English fields. Women who had no chance of anything but a hard life of toil and want. In America these women would be treasured by their men, they would have the chance to live, grow the land, and become the mother's of the Jamestown colony.

What King James didn't bargain for was that his ward, the Lady Jocelyn Leigh, would seek safety on the ships and disappear in the wild forests around Jamestown.

Captain Percy, unwittingly, marries the Lady Leigh, only to find out that with the wedding vows he had become a condemned man. Hated by the King, and the King's court favorite, and Jocelyn's old fiance' Lord Carnal.

The story is one of adventure, as Captain Percy fights for the woman he has married. There are pirates, Indians, soldiers, and wild animals all thrown against the dark and foreboding backdrop of the American forests.

2 Notes - Although love, and marriage are important pieces of this book. This is not a "love story" and there is nothing inappropriate. I recommend this book for the brilliant way it shows how true love will fight and battle and war against every odd.

Secondly, Though the original edition is in the public Domain, I do recommend you read the Vision Forum version of the book. The original story had several passages where a very angry Lord Carnal said certain things he ought not to have said. Vision Forum has done an excellent job in removing those, without damaging the excellence of the book.

Lastly, I chose this book for  November because of the incredible history of our early colonists that is portrays. With thanksgiving approaching, we often only think of the Pilgrim's alone in the New England Forests. But there was so much more than that. Reading this book deepened my appreciation for the American heritage. Read it yourself, you'll never think of history the same again!

Fine Print: Images are not mine. In hopes that Blogger will let this post through, it ate my last version of it. :/