Charleston [Hardcover]

John Jakes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2002

With more than 50 million copies of his books in print, John Jakes is one of the preeminent novelists of American historical fiction. Now this beloved storyteller takes readers to Charleston, South Carolina, in a stunning multigenerational saga that tells the story of two apocalyptic, nation-shaping wars as seen through the eyes of a powerful South Carolina dynasty.

Written in three parts, Charleston follows the lives, loves, and shifting fortunes of the Bells, saints and evildoers mingled together in one unforgettable family, from the American Revolution through the turbulent antebellum years to the Civil War and the savage defeat of the Confederacy. Delving into our country's history as only he can, Jakes paints a powerful portrait of the Charleston aristocracy who zealously guarded their privilege and position, harboring dark family secrets that threatened to destroy them all. Sweeping from the bitterly divided Carolina frontier of the 1770s through the tragic destruction of the city during the Civil War, and peopled by a sprawling cast of memorable characters-patriots and cowards, aristocrats and abolitionists, slaves and freedmen, heroic men and courageous women-Charleston represents America's premier storyteller at his very best.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Though at times a historically illuminating work, Charleston, bestselling author John Jakes's fictional retelling of the title city's early history through the Civil War, remains a largely uninspiring drama. Charleston offers an account of the burgeoning city from the perspective of the fictional Bell family, whose British immigrant predecessors arrive in Charleston in 1720. The story of the family's lasting, influential link to Charleston begins with Edward, whose political ideas during the Revolution put him at odds with the town's largely loyalist population, including his brother Adrian. Edward fights bravely in the Revolution, joining an effective band of hit-and-run fighters, but is later murdered by a jilted, mentally ill lover. Charleston then leaps forward, following the fortunes of Edward's granddaughter, Alex, who adopts Edward's liberal, abolitionist views, and begins a romance with lifelong black friend Henry. As slave-revolt paranoia heightens in the South, Alex watches Charleston become an isolated, violent police state, and eventually travels north, becoming a songwriter for the abolitionists and a witness to Charleston's downfall. Jakes combines fictional characters with meticulously researched historical settings and figures to give the events of Charleston context, significance, and immediacy. But rather than relying on the simple power of history, Jakes distracts from the narrative with clumsy metaphors and exaggerated characters. --Ross Doll

From Publishers Weekly

Jakes, the bestselling master of historical fiction, begins his newest saga in 1720, a mere 50 years after the first settlers occupy the still-rustic village of Charles Town at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, in what will become the state of South Carolina. Arriving from a primitive western trading post, Sydney Greech, a 20-year-old British immigrant, and his pretty, pregnant bride, Bess, take a more euphonious surname as they begin a new life of menial labor and spawn the Bell clan, whose successive generations will be bound up with the history and fate of Charleston. Much of the book is set between 1779 and the 1866 post-Civil War rebellion in South Carolina; it takes up the story of 21-year-old Edward Bell (grandson of Sydney) and his rivalry with his older and more devious brother, Adrian, who steals his sweetheart while Edward is studying in London. The intrigue then comes to focus on great-granddaughter Alexandra, born in 1815, who grows up to see her secret black lover murdered and travels north to become an abolitionist crusader. Members of the extended Bell family often find themselves on opposite sides of the various ideological divides that dominate the first hundred years of U.S. history, and their story is a dark tapestry of betrayal, revenge and murder as royalists clash with patriots, Unionists with Confederates. Fans of Jakes's earlier hits should find plenty of drama and antebellum flavor in this lusty epic.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; later printing edition (August 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525946500
• ISBN-13: 978-0525946502
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #497,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Uneven, August 18, 2002

By 

Samantha W. Mckevitt "longislandgirl" (Dix Hills, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charleston (Hardcover)

I have enjoyed some of John Jakes' other historical novels in the past and was delighted that he selceted Charleston as the venue of his latest. Unfortunately, I found the book disapointing.

It is basically divided into 3 eras starting with the American Revolution to "young America" in the early 1800s to the Civil War. What usually makes Jakes so talented is his ability to link generations for seamless story telling. I really didn't find that here. It was more like 3 loosely connected stories that did not relate the way they should have. The novel was also missing a likable hero. None of the family members were that pleasant and I found myself not really caring about them. The book would have been much improved by having likable people!

The section dealing with the era preceeding the Civil War is well written and captures a divisive time. As usual with Jakes, figures from US history walk across the pages (Frederick Douglass, the Grimke sisters). I almost hope Jakes writes another book about this great city, but with a stong likable family.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You can learn A LOT from the genre of historical fiction..., August 25, 2002

By 

Corinne H. Smith (Athol, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Charleston (Hardcover)

...and John Jakes is one of its master craftsmen. This volume is the multigenerational saga of the fictitious Bell family of Charleston, South Carolina. Its timeline runs from 1720 to 1866 and thus covers a host of tumultuous times in the Low Country community.

_Charleston_ is divided into three "books." Book One sees Edward Bell fighting on the side of the American Revolution, both before and after Charleston's surrender to the British. Those of us with northern upbringing and education tend to equate the Revolution with Massachusetts in April 1775, not South Carolina in 1781. Either we never learned that Charleston fell to the British in that war, or we had no idea what that meant. Of course, the battle of the colonists versus the loyalists divides the Bell family as well, and the rift seems to widen as the decades pass. Book Two follows Alexandra Bell, her brother Hampton, and their cousins Ouida and Gibbes as they react to slavery issues and take sides in the ever-escalating debate between nullification and Unionism. Standard history books will tell you that this period is technically pre-Civil War, but it's far from a time of peace and non-violence for the Bells and other Carolinians. Alexandra moves north to join the abolitionist crusade while her brother and cousins go in different directions. Book Three covers the constant Civil War bombing of Charleston and its eventual surrender to Union forces. We trace the paths of the older Bell cousins as Alexandra comes back home, and son and nephew Calhoun Hayward spends time in several military prisons in Delaware and Ohio. Even after the war is over, divisions continue. Some residents are eager to rebuild and start over, and some can't get past a consuming blaming and hatred of Yankees. Some are pleased the blacks are freed; others are afraid. The extended Bell family and their friends are a microcosm of it all.

As with other Jakes titles, fiction interacts with reality, and the Bells end up meeting a number of "famous" people along the way. This time, they're either military figures (Colonel Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion, General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, Jefferson Davis) or abolitionists (the Grimke sisters, William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass). The author also includes the kind of historical detail we've come to expect from his writing. Reading it thoroughly immerses one into that time period.

I enjoyed reading this book and am giving it only four stars because of its demands on the reader. This is not frivolous stuff, and it won't appeal to everyone. _Charleston_ takes time to digest, to remember characters and all the incidental faces that appear in the storylines, and to occasionally look up unfamiliar words. (I personally can't wait to call someone an "ill-bred parvenu" or a "termagant," and I might even run into an "Augean stable" along the way.) It's helpful that the volume is physically divided into three books with smaller segues between, and the last 200 pages go much faster than the first 300.

Jakes leaves a few threads hanging, and a sequel could be possible. Perhaps South Carolina and Charleston history can continue through the 20th century and even include the debates over the continued visibility of the Confederate flag and the recovery of the _Hunley_. I guess we'll see.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER, November 27, 2002

By 

Jose C. Clemente III (Manila Philippines) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charleston (Hardcover)

As someone who has followed John Jakes through his Kent Family Chronicles to the North and South trilogy and the subsequent novels, I found myself a bit disoriented by Charleston.

The book seems hurried and tries to fit so many events and so much history into one novel. And a short novel (by Jakes' standards, at least) at that. I felt that he could have taken more time to unravel the story aspect as opposed to the history aspect of the book.

I don't know if Jakes is starting to wind down but his latest novels are losing the detail and thoroughness that marked his earlier books. It feels like he's coasting. Which is sad considering that Jakes is one of America's premier historical novelists.