Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
The Virgin Earth
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Philippa Gregory
Class/Genre: Fiction Historical
St. Martin's, Dec 1999, $26.95, 376 pp.
In 1638, John Tradescant travels from England to Virginia in search of exotic plants that might successfully grow in the royal gardens. The Jamestown colony magistrate Mr. Joseph reluctantly arranges for an Indian child to serve as John's guide for the next month since the child's mother is serving that much prison time for slander. At the end of the month, John meets his guide's mother and finally learns the name of his escort is Suckahanna and she is member of the Powhatan tribe. Before leaving for England with his treasures, John vows to return to live and protect Suckahanna and her mother.
John returns home to find his father, the royal gardener died during his trip overseas. His father left him a note asking John to marry Hester Pooks to help raise his two children from a previous marriage. Leaving his family behind, John flees England for Virginia when war civil war seems eminent. He sets up a plantation in Virginia that survives only because Suckahanna and her people help him. History repeats itself, as war seems imminent between the Powhatan and the Virginia colonists.
VIRGIN EARTH is a brilliant historical fiction that makes the personal and national conflicts of seventeenth century England and the Virginia Colony seem real. The story line centers on John's simple desires to garden turning to inner turmoil due external forces pulling at him from varying sides. Suckahanna and her mother are genuine players critical to the plot. The colonists and John's English family adds to the lead character's dilemmas. Philippa Gregory provides readers with an exciting tale that sub-genre fans and Anglo-American history buffs will fully enjoy.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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