EBOOK ´ è Libbie Hawker
In 1607 three ships arrive on the coast of Virginia to establish Jamestown Colony One girl’s life and the lives of her people are changed foreverTo Pocahontas and her people the Tidewater is the rightful home of the Powhatan tribe To England it is Virginia Territory fertile with promise rich with silver and go The story of Pocahontas has become part of American mythology The legend of the Indian princess who befriended the colonists of Jamestown Virginia and saved the life of John Smith has been depicted in numerous books and films usually in a highly romanticized way In the animated Disney movie as in many other portrayals Pocahontas and John Smith were in love star crossed by their incompatible culturesIt all makes for a great story but these tales bear little resemblance to the history In Tidewater Libbie Hawker puts some of the historical back in historical fiction with a novel that sticks much closer to the actual events but turns out to be interesting than the idealized version Pocahontas a nickname meaning “Mischief” was actually a child when she first met John Smith and certainly not a love interest She was adept with languages as was Smith helping the colonists communicate with her father the most important chief of the tribes in the region Hawker uses Powhatan words unapologetically but naturally adding to the sense of this unusual linguistic partnership of a Native American child and an English settlerPocahontas and Smith were both a little out of step with their respective people Their mutual feeling of not uite fitting in formed another basis for their bond Pocahontas unfortunately shared a weakness with the colonists as well a hubris that came of overestimating abilities and underestimating challenges Though excusable in a child the mistakes of all involved had devastating conseuences that often erupted into violence The constant threat of starvation coupled with the colonists’ fundamental misunderstanding of the native tribes sowed the seeds of conflict that would be passed on for generations Hawker creates a story that is by necessity much darker than the Disney version Her research gives the novel authenticity but it is woven into the story and the characters Their decisions and interactions are plausible based on the time and circumstances While some uestions will never be fully answered by history it could have gone like this Pocahontas 1616 Image Wikipedia
Libbie Hawker è Tidewater BOOK
TidewaterShip with Smith Their bond preserves a wary peace but control can rest only in one nation’s hands When that peace is broken Pocahontas must choose between power and servitude between self and sacrifice for the sake of her people and her landRevised edition This edition of Tidewater includes editorial revisions This book just blew me away I have to admit being in a rather small minority in that I knew nothing about Pocahontas before reading the book other than that she existed she was famous for some reason and there was a cartoon about her I bought the book purely on the strength of this author's other books writing as L M Ironside set in ancient Egypt I gave all of those 5 stars so I was intrigued and delighted to see that she had tackled a different eraI wasn't disappointed Far from it While I thought the Egyptian books were excellent I also thought that Hawker's writing had taken a uantum leap since her last book This is a writer of genuine skill She was able to evoke an era that I knew nothing about and put me right there to such an extent that now I feel like I know all about itBecause of the cartoon I wasn't sure what to expect but this isn't a cartoon story This is the story of the collision of two cultures and the inevitable bloodshed that follows It's the story of the connection between two people too complex to be called a love story which develops into a fascinating account of two intertwined livesI would recommend this book to everyone whether you think you know the story of Pocahontas or not