First sentence: At a young age I learned how quickly one's fortune's can change, a truth that never betrayed me. One day I was the beloved daughter of a Hampshire gentleman who had been chosen to serve the queen. The next, he was killed fighting in the Netherlands, and I was an orphan.
Premise/plot: Catherine Archer becomes a maid in the court of Queen Elizabeth I. She even earns enough favor to receive a nickname--"Cat." But the Queen's favor is a fickle, fickle thing. And when the Queen discovers that Cate is in love with Sir Walter Raleigh, well it's not quite OFF WITH HER HEAD (think Alice in Wonderland) but close enough: TO THE TOWER. But her wrath subsides a tiny bit and she relents that instead of imprisonment in the tower perhaps banishment to the New World might be fitting. Raleigh (spelled Ralegh throughout the novel) has been trying to get permission for exploring and colonizing Virginia for years--this ship ends up landing/settling at Roanoke. If you are at all familiar with history--you can guess that much DANGER lies ahead.
This book has THREE narrators...Kate Archer, Walter Ralegh, and Manteo.
My thoughts: I do love reading historical fiction. I'm not entirely sure how accurate this one is or even tries to be. I'm not sure how I feel about that--do I want a historical novel to be super-accurate or do I want a somewhat happy ending?! (As happy as you can be when treating the subject.)
A few of the characters are historical figures but filtered through the author's imagination. A few characters--like Cate--are completely fictional. In this novel, Ralegh himself joins the "rescue/provision" ships bound for Roanoke.
This one spans several years and speaks of several attempts of exploration and settling in the colony of Virginia. Some of my ancestors were early Virginia colonists--though NOT this early, fortunately.
© 2019 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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