BOOK REVIEW:To Have and To Hold, by Mary Johnston

To Have and to Hold: A Tale of Providence and Perseverance in Colonial Jamestown by Mary Johnston


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was an unexpected delight. Besides the fascinating historicity of 17th century life in the early Virginia settlement (Jamestown), there is a love story, a good meaty villain, and a winsome, well developed cast of characters. The place sketches (land, water, geography, topography) is so well drawn by the author that you can feel the wilderness about you while reading.
The heroine is perhaps the "weak" spot in the book. She is a stereotypical frail beauty, retiring, shy, and breathtaking. She does manage to make a small claim upon the heart by the ending chapters particularly; and the chapters where Indians are prevalent are really eye-opening. We get to see how treacherous life was back then, and appreciate the cunning and subtlety of the native enemies. Great history, fun story, go for it.

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Note: This book was a free upload from Amazon Kindle.