Here's an oldie. When I was a kid a million years ago, I read Candlemas Bay, which was an old book even then. Very charming, and a few years back I went looking to see what else Moore had written. As it turns out in her day she was highly regarded, although seems to have been mostly forgotten.
This is the story of the Ellis family, starting when oldest son Ed staggers back home with stolen pirate gold. Ed is not a nice guy, his mother has rigid ideas of right and wrong, and his brother Nate just wants to get along. Before you know it, Lizabeth is captured on the pirate's ship, Nate is taking off for parts unknown, and Ed is soon to get his comeuppance. But fate in the person of Frank Carnavon intervenes. It's out of the frying pan into the fire and soon everyone is fleeing north to the coast of Maine (not called Maine back in 1750 or so, but there they are).
Definitely comes down more on the character side than the historical, although it is an interesting glimpse of a time when you could just sail up the coast and find a place to settle down. Lots of references to how the British are imposing more and more taxes. I thought it captured attitudes pretty well; most of the people needed to be hard to get along in life. I thought Lizabeth was pretty naive not to realize what she might be walking into, taking that money from Ed. It's maybe a little stiff in places - I didn't think it had the charm of Candlemas Bay - but a nice story.
This is the story of the Ellis family, starting when oldest son Ed staggers back home with stolen pirate gold. Ed is not a nice guy, his mother has rigid ideas of right and wrong, and his brother Nate just wants to get along. Before you know it, Lizabeth is captured on the pirate's ship, Nate is taking off for parts unknown, and Ed is soon to get his comeuppance. But fate in the person of Frank Carnavon intervenes. It's out of the frying pan into the fire and soon everyone is fleeing north to the coast of Maine (not called Maine back in 1750 or so, but there they are).
Definitely comes down more on the character side than the historical, although it is an interesting glimpse of a time when you could just sail up the coast and find a place to settle down. Lots of references to how the British are imposing more and more taxes. I thought it captured attitudes pretty well; most of the people needed to be hard to get along in life. I thought Lizabeth was pretty naive not to realize what she might be walking into, taking that money from Ed. It's maybe a little stiff in places - I didn't think it had the charm of Candlemas Bay - but a nice story.
