Lydia Bailey

Lydia Bailey

Kenneth Roberts

Historical Fiction / History

A fascinating, thoroughly researched historical novel of Haiti and Africa, and the early United States, outlining Haitians battle for freedom seen through the eyes of one man. It features Albion Hamlin, who comes to Boston in 1800 to defend a man accused of violating the Alien and Sedition Act. In a whirlwind of action, Hamlin is jailed, then escapes to Haiti in search of his client's daughter, Lydia Bailey, with whom he has fallen in love simply by gazing at her portrait.
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Arundel

Arundel

Kenneth Roberts

Historical Fiction / History

This is the classic series from Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novelist Kenneth Roberts, all featuring characters from the town of Arundel, Maine. Arundel follows Steven Nason as he joins Benedict Arnold in his march to Quebec during the American Revolution.
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Rabble in Arms

Rabble in Arms

Kenneth Roberts

Historical Fiction / History

The second of Roberts's epic novels of the American Revolution, Rabble in Arms was hailed by one critic as the greatest historical novel written about America upon its publication in 1933. Love, treachery, ambition, and idealism motivate an unforgettable cast of characters in a magnificent novel renowned not only for the beauty and horror of its story but also for its historical accuracy.
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Boon Island: including Contemporary Accounts of the Wreck of the Nottingham Galley

Boon Island: including Contemporary Accounts of the Wreck of the Nottingham Galley

Kenneth Roberts

Historical Fiction / History

This classic tale of shipwreck and survival is reprinted in a new edition, with essays that provide a historical perspective and trace the sources from which Kenneth Roberts (1885-1957) drew his tale. A native Mainer, Roberts, whose historical novels include Northwest Passage and Arundel, was intrigued by the story of the December 1710 wreck of the Nottingham. After running aground a dozen miles offshore, the ship broke up, stranding her crew with minimal tools, scant shelter, and a few pieces of cheese. The men survived nearly a month of screeching gales, sub-freezing temperatures, and driving snowstorms. During their ordeal they resorted to cannibalism and were finally rescued after one of them made it ashore on a crude raft. Included here are contemporary accounts from crew members, offering dramatically different versions of the true-life traumatic event and a fascinating counterpoint to Roberts' fictionalized version. A bestseller when published in 1956, Boon Island is a story of the ways that crisis can inspire the best - and worst - in human nature.
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Captain Caution

Captain Caution

Kenneth Roberts

Historical Fiction / History

It is 1812 and America has declared war on Britain. The American ship Olive Branch is waylaid by a British cruiser. Captain Dorman is killed, and his crew is taken prisoner, including the captain's pretty and strong-willed daughter, Corunna. Widely recognized for his careful attention to historical details, Kenneth Roberts portrays the bravery of American seamen, their sufferings in the mist-shrouded walls of Dartmoor Prison, the invention of the Gangway Pendulum, and the sailors' dangerous and dramatic escape.
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