White Seed The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke edition by Paul Clayton Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : White Seed The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke edition by Paul Clayton Literature Fiction eBooks 
One of the most haunting mysteries in American history — The Lost Colony of Roanoke — comes roaring back to life in White Seed, with a compelling cast of characters, among them
Maggie Hagger, indentured Irish serving girl, a victim of rape and intimidation,
Manteo, Croatoan interpreter for the English, inhabitant of two worlds, belonging to neither,
John White, ineffective Governor, painter, dreamer, father and grandfather,
Captain Stafford, brave and disciplined, but cruel soldier, and
Powhatan, shrewd Tidewater warlord who wages a stealthy war against the colonists.
From Publishers Weekly This above-average historical hews closely to the record of Sir Walter Raleigh's second doomed attempt to plant the British flag in Virginia, but embroiders the who, what, when with enough... embellishment to create a riveting story. The focus is 17-year-old "wench" Maggie Hagger, whose passage on Raleigh's ship was paid by colony Governor Sir John White so she can serve his pregnant daughter. The ship's stormy passage to the New World -- during which widower White falls for Maggie, who is meanwhile evading unwanted advances from a scalawag -- establishes the many well-wrought characters, some noble (particularly real-life Native Manteo), others evil. The depiction of the colony's physical and moral disintegration between 1587 and 1590 -- as drunken, cannibalistic soldiers mutiny and brutalize the settlers they were meant to protect, and as colonists confront disease, starvation and madness -- evokes a harrowing sense of human fallibility. Readers with more than a nodding familiarity with American colonial history will experience a … déjà vu, but others less hip to what happened in late-16th century times will find this saga, which starts slowly but soon reaches page-turner velocity, to be both a dandy diversion and an entertaining education.
Chapter 1
Spring, 1587, Plymouth England…
Maggie knew that this old man would do to her what the other had – if he could get her alone. She stood on the deck of Sir Walter Raleigh’s ship, the Lion, the afternoon sun burning through her simple gown of green linen, as she waited for her turn to be interviewed for a place in Raleigh’s New World Virginia Paradise. She had not eaten all day and the stench of garbage and pitch pine from the harbor threatened to make her retch. The old man, a sailor with a gray goat’s beard sprouting from his chin, sat at a table ten feet away, writing in a black leather-bound ledger open before him.
Maggie Hagger, seventeen years of age, had long, red hair and a fair, pretty face flecked with freckles. The ship, although tightly tethered to the quay, moved slightly on a swell. Maggie took her eyes off the man to look up at the looping white of the furled sails as they moved slightly across the blue vault of the sky. Like a graceful swan, this ship would take her far away to safety upon its downy back -- if she got a contract of indenture! And get one she must… or hang!
“Next!” the old sailor said finally.
As Maggie approached, she looked to her left at twenty-five or so common people dressed in plain brown woolens and homespun, whose terms of indenture had already been purchased. They waited in the stark sunlight with their belongings in shabby bundles about their feet. On the other side in the shade cast by stacks of wooden pens containing sheep and hens, about a dozen of the better sort, dressed in fine clothes and wearing hats of bright colors, talked softly. They were all watching Maggie expectantly.
“Name?”
“Maggie Hagger.”
He had an ugly voice like the bark of a dog, recalling to Maggie the bray of the man who had pursued her and Thomas halfway across England. She remembered their escape from the London warehouse in the blackness of night. They had crept along the slippery stones of the exposed banks of the Thames as a horrid, faceless man shouted after them, "Redheaded whore! Wherever you go I will find you. Hea
White Seed The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke edition by Paul Clayton Literature Fiction eBooks
I have been fascinated by the story of The Lost Colony of Roanoke ever since I first ran across a mention of it in my 5th grade history book, many years ago now. And while I have seen many television programs and read numerous articles about The Lost Colony and its possible fate, White Seed was the first fictional account I have read about this episode in history.The premise of the story is good, overall. The characters were well-developed and their actions were plausible. I really only had two issues with the book, but the first one was pretty major. It may have just been my copy, but I found some major copy-editing issues in my edition. Random icons would appear in the middle of a paragraph. There were many missing punctuation and quotation marks, and, most vexing to me as a reader, missing chapter/heading breaks that would give me reading whiplash (we'd be in the colony in Maggie's mind, then suddenly leap across the Atlantic into Governor White's mind without so much as a double spaced line, much less a transition). These issues don't impact the story (which was great), but they did impact my reading experience. Whoever copy-edited my edition ought to be ashamed.
My only other issue with the book s that I would have liked the book to go on, just a bit more. I would have liked to see the colonists assimilating (or not) into village life as the decades passed.
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White Seed The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke edition by Paul Clayton Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
I loved this book! The Roanoke story is one of the enduring historical mysteries of early American colonization, and Mr. Clayton weaves a very plausible scenario to resolve it.
This story revolves mainly around a girl named Maggie. She's on the run for a murder she didn't commit and is purchased by the new Governor of Virginia, as an indentured servant intended to care for the Governor's pregnant daughter. The New World is an untamed place and Maggie finds a new home and family among the settlers.
But this new life is full of perils. Unscrupulous men have put the colonist's supplies in jeopardy and the balance of power is gradually, insidiously shifting within the colony. The captain of the soldiers who were brought in to protect the settlers has his own agenda. A friendly tribe of natives has been helping the colonists, in violation of a decree by Powhatan, an ambitious and ruthless native chief. As their food stores are depleted and the threats from both within the colony and from without mount, how will Maggie and her new family survive?
Mr. Clayton did his homework and three years of terror are so well portrayed on the pages of this book, that I was completely immersed in the tale. The characters are well drawn and real, with strengths and flaws clearly portrayed. An excellent story, worth the read for those who love dramatic or historical books. Highly recommend this one!
Being from North Carolina I have grown up knowing the mystery of the Lost Colony, seen the pageant 3 times and grown up around the Lumbee Indians who once claimed to be the descendants of the colony. So this is of great interest to me. This is I think as great an epic story as can be put together of a fate in which there is little known "facts." The colonists lives were not the priority they should have been, or they would have been in Chesapeake instead of Roanoke. Sir Walter Raleigh was not the benevolent colonizer history depicts, or Governor White would not have been given the run around in getting supplies and returning. And supplies would not have run short if barrels had been full and not shorted and stolen by packers when the colony was prepared. A five star, a great read.
At the beginning of his novel, White Seed, author Paul Clayton dedicates the work to Clavell, Michener and Follet, three writers of grandly landscaped, historically supported fiction. He doesn't disappoint.
For readers of American history, the barely known chapters, of Raleigh's ill-fated experimental colony have always sparked conjecture. White Seed does an admirable job in bringing together the realities of the late 16th century including class warfare, global politics and incomplete understanding of the reasons for exploration and colonizing the New World.
These powerful forces, often at odds, are fleshed out perfectly within the characters of this novel. White Seed leads the reader into the lives of indentured colonists, the landed gentry, the gang-pressed soldiers, poorly chosen leaders, the New World itself and those who pulled the strings affecting all their lives.
I was particularly appreciative of the full, rich characterizations of Native Virginians, who play major roles in this tale. The book held my attention and was an easy, very enjoyable read filled with emotion. It accurately expressed the longings and failures of each character without creating cardboard cliches. The scenes of conflict were also intimately crafted, very satisfying and completely without the excesses expected from the Hollywood treatment of warfare.
The fate of the colony, though foreshadowed early on, reaches a satisfying and very believable conclusion based, in part, upon reported witness accounts and thorough research. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good period read and particularly those who have always had questions regarding our earliest colonial history.
I have been fascinated by the story of The Lost Colony of Roanoke ever since I first ran across a mention of it in my 5th grade history book, many years ago now. And while I have seen many television programs and read numerous articles about The Lost Colony and its possible fate, White Seed was the first fictional account I have read about this episode in history.
The premise of the story is good, overall. The characters were well-developed and their actions were plausible. I really only had two issues with the book, but the first one was pretty major. It may have just been my copy, but I found some major copy-editing issues in my edition. Random icons would appear in the middle of a paragraph. There were many missing punctuation and quotation marks, and, most vexing to me as a reader, missing chapter/heading breaks that would give me reading whiplash (we'd be in the colony in Maggie's mind, then suddenly leap across the Atlantic into Governor White's mind without so much as a double spaced line, much less a transition). These issues don't impact the story (which was great), but they did impact my reading experience. Whoever copy-edited my edition ought to be ashamed.
My only other issue with the book s that I would have liked the book to go on, just a bit more. I would have liked to see the colonists assimilating (or not) into village life as the decades passed.
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