Nice fictional work of early colonial life
925450
Interesting story from the early american history when the lords were taking land and pushing out the native Americans.

Our hero a Scot, which means trouble for the lords,  sets out to learn more about what happen a year earlier, but he must work out pieces of information as the story unfolds.

I different look at life in the early New York Colony...
2397331
This is a nice book and is the full-sized edition, with dust jacket. Having lived in Nairobi near Karen Blixen's farm I am very much into the stories of colonial life in Kenya a hundred years ago. This book provides an interesting look at colonial life from the eyes of a young woman who grew up there.

It takes a long while to get rolling and it tends to be rather dry. Also, while it relates stories related to a range of characters (who are analogues of real people) it does not provide a good picture of where you are. Rather, it provides little patches where things happen without really providing a foundation of the larger geographic picture. Regardless, what you get from this book is a sketchy picture of life that is reminiscent of Little House. For me, when I finished it, it was like I'd been served a meal without much sustenance and that I had left the table feeling hungry.
3177630
Though this is a work of fiction, it is clear that the story most likely did occur with many variations throughout the history of the Americas. A very sad story, but the author did an excellent job of portraying the various characters' perspectives. I gave it 4 stars because of the genuineness of the characters. I loved that the story had a happy ending. It also showed how one can become so focused on maintaining the day to day grind that the years can get away from you. I didn't like that there wasn't much detail about the girls at the first school. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes and understands island culture.
202537
Description of colonial life in the Caribbean is fascinating,with a good casting characters..Creighton is highly descriptive of the events that unfold
886141
I picked this up on a whim and was glad I did.  The book is populated with interesting characters who insist upon going about life as usual as much as possible in the midst of the Indian Mutiny.  The fact that the enemy is literally at the gates is no reason not to continue to have afternoon tea.  The ladies in particular are determined to carry on with their daily routine including their rigid social hierarchy until the bitter end.

The story gives a good glimpse of what colonial life was like for the English in India, including all of the social prejudices.  Apparently there is a whole class of novels know as 'Mutiny Novels' that are written in a similar style.  I had no idea and may seek a few of those out.
1848028
This book is one of those with two, parallel story lines involving sisters from the same family, hundreds of years apart. One is contemporary, one is set in colonial America. The stories were well written and not artificially contrived to be too similar, but they were still connected. It's a light read, but well written and enjoyable. I received an advance publisher's copy in exchange for my unbiased and honest review.
4936525
I found this book enjoyable, because it was a refreshing break from heavier historic reading. It is a quick read for advanced readers, but still well enough written with a good amount of history and a good reflection of the people of the Revolutionary era to be worthwhile. I enjoyed it, though it is probably written more towards younger readers, teen-age level.  A nice over view of the colonial areas and the people at the the beginning of the Revolution more than the hurricane itself. Though it is non-fiction, it paces more like a novel, making it informative and pleasant.
4208694
Overall, I liked this tale of a young widowed midwife living in Braintree, MA during the American Revolution.  Elizabeth Lee Boylston (Lizzie) begins the novel as a relatively new bride whose in-laws were opposed to the marriage. Jeb and Lizzie are trying to make a go of a farm of their own when he hears the call to arms. When he dies in the Battle of Bunker Hill, Lizzie extends her efforts to get work as a local midwife while trying to keep the farm going with the help of young Martha Miller, whose parents have left her an orphan and whose brother is suspected of being a spy for the British.  Lizzie is befriended by Abigail Adams, whose husband and son have sailed to France to negotiate assistance for the colonists.  As the was continues, Lizzie becomes more deeply embroiled in political espionage.

The author has done excellent research and presents a fascinating picture of what life must have been like for the women left to fend for themselves while their men went off to war.  She brings in a number of historical figures and events as well.  Many of the secondary characters, such as Martha and Lizzie's old family servants Giles and Bessie, are well-drawn and engaging.  The only flaws for me were a swoon into romance about 2/3 through the novel and some rather silly episodes where Lizzie goes in disguise.

A pretty good and fairly light read with a lot of interesting background research.
1063390
Well written historical novel with a feminist twist that has a younger William Shakespeare as a featured character. I am not a Shakespeare scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know that there is an ongoing controversy regarding his life and works, one that ranges from who inspired him to who may have been the "real" author of his poetry and plays. In this novel, a thirty-something widow takes the stage as both inspiration and editor when the young poet comes to her estate as a tutor.

I enjoyed this debut novel as just that -- a work of fiction. The author has done her research on the time period, although I think she perhaps made the character of Katherine more of our time than of the actual time period. The character of Shakespeare was not terribly appealing, in that he often came off as sly. There are no erotic sex scenes in the book so it is suitable for young adults to read and discuss in a classroom setting. The dialog is not too modern nor too much of the foresooth variety, where one has to have a knowledge of archaic terms  in order to enjoy and/or understand what is happening. Even if you don't buy the premise that Katherine was Shakespeare's Maxwell Perkins the book can simply be read and enjoyed as a well-written literary novel.
1022388
An enjoyable read about characters who are fictional interacting with real life historical figures. There were a few things I thought might not be appropriate for the period, Renaissance Italy, but overall a good summer read about women struggling against society's strictures to become artists. There is a sequel promised that I'll look forward to reading.
1392559
This was a historical fiction taking place in Regency times, which is not as unusual as it was a few years ago, but which is still new enough for the reader to be amused by the time period. It was an interesting read, with some nice historical details, but it was a bit bogged down by the author's "telling" instead of showing.
Now, it had some really good moments towards the end, where the pace picks up and the plot points come together to give us a cohesive ending. And the characters, especially Jane, were interesting to read about. Lord Andrew came off a tad too arrogant, but he was still amusing.
The town of Ravelston should also be considered another character, since it has a personality of its own. As we read on, we get to know what makes the town so unique. It definitely adds a paranormal element to what the reader thinks will be a straight-forward mystery.
As I said, the only thing that got in the way of the story was the telling instead of showing. This is a common style mistake, but it does detract from the reading.
All in all, it's an interesting take on the Regency Era, and lovers of historical fiction will probably enjoy it for its quirkiness.
1153238
First of all, I listened to this on my Kindle more than I actually read it. However, I did not pick up on any errors as far as typos go. It seemed to flow smoothly, although at a somewhat sedate pace at times. It felt like the author did some research on the healing arts of the time period and attitudes toward "witchcraft". One thing I appreciated is that the story contains realistic human failings without endorsing them. Although this book has a Christian theme, it does not bury its head in the sand and ignore reality and reality is that there are evil deeds done in the world. There are now and there were in the time period in which this novel is set.
I did not realize this was Christian fiction when I got it. Once I realized it was, I was interested to see how it would be handled. It was not overly preachy (which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing) and the tale held my interest. I enjoy historical novels and like to pick up on a lot of detail of how lives were lived in earlier times. This book provided some of that, and I wouldn't have minded a bit more. All in all, though, I enjoyed this book.
228241
England, 1787.  Josiah Cole is a tradesman with moderate success in the sugar and rum trade.  But if he wants to be successful, he knows he has to marry a lady of quality.  So he proposes to Frances -- a thirty-five-year-old governess well in her way to spinsterhood.  She sees this as an opportunity to marry well, so she accepts his proposal.  Does she regret it?  After all, they live in a noisy, smelly warehouse in Bristol, a long way from her former gentle country life.  She also sees just how vulgar tradesmen are.  Josiah is obsessed with success and wealth.  Her sister-in-law, a spinster, doesn't seem to like her at all.  Their lives center on material gain.  And on top of everything else, Josiah seems to be dealing with the slave trade.  Now her job is to train slaves -- teach them how to speak English and become "respectable" and "educated" English folk -- all the while she witnesses a woman getting raped and the men getting whipped and humiliated.  But that's okay.  According to her husband and sister-in-law, Africans are barely human.  They are wild beasts that have to be tamed.  But as she spends more time with Mehuru, once a priest and gentlemen in the land of Yoruba, she is in for quite a few surprises.  But will a lady and a powerless slave ever be free?

This is one of Philippa Gregory's earlier novels.  The author was born in Kenya and raised in Bristol, so I see why she'd write this book.  I very much enjoyed this story.  The characters are well developed (although not as well developed as they would have been had this book been written when she had more experience) and the story takes some interesting turns.  Josiah and Sarah (his sister) are very superficial, and I suppose they are meant to be that way.  Mehuru and Frances are the most developed -- both torn between loyalty to their people and doing the right thing.  I couldn't put this wonderful book down.  It kind of falls apart in the last chapters though.  How could Josiah and Sarah be unaware of the mayhem that goes on upstairs?  Are they THAT preoccupied with material things that they fail to notice something like that?  Aside from that, I very much enjoyed A Respectable Trade.  I look forward to reading more books by Gregory.  I am very interested in reading the stuff she's written that isn't based on one of Henry VIII's wives.
3029869
Based on a real-life Scottish minister and his wife who came to serve in the remote outpost of St Kilda in 1830, this is an eminently readable work, exposing the reader to the primitive conditions endured by the people on this tiny island, whose main source of food is seabirds. Their custom of ploughing bird carcasses into the soil as manure led to 60% neonatal deaths, while the difficulty of reaching the archipelago often meant deliveries of food were rare and the inhabitants nearly starved.
This is not an action novel: the reader imbibes the atmosphere, follows a difficult marriage and the personal struggle of the minister, determined to bring the word of God to a superstitious flock (but whose traditional lifestyle of working together for the common good, ironically enough, could teach the 'civilised' world something.)
I didn't feel I could somehow quite get into Lizzie, the long-suffering wife, as a real person, but the social history was so interesting that I enjoyed reading the book.
2829972
Here you see the early  interaction of English colonists and Native americans.  How they prove they can equal the whites but the mindset of the men in power will not allow it. Just fun to read about the living conditions of early colonists. worth reading.
851112
A bit "dry" as biographical novels often are.  However, it is an interesting story of a stalwart and upright man during colonial days in SC.  He is an ancestor of mine, so it was interesting to learn more about him.
4310731
Author writes with a nod to modern sensibilities but bases the story on historical writings. A good introduction to the true story of Jamestown rather than the cartoon version many kids are familiar with.