Customer Reviews

Yankee Stranger

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Elswyth Thane wrote a timeless tale of the human experience and how it is affected by war and made bearable by love. With skilled writing and human insight she made those moments come alive and ring true for every generation from the 1700s to the 1940s! I stumbled on "Dawns Early Light" at the local library when I was in my 20s and traveled between three libraries to find the other five books in successive order. I'm rereading them now in my mid-50s and enjoying them more than when I read them at 30 and 40. Im still traveling to three libraries to ferret them out. How delighted I am to finally find a source where I can put together my own set. I purchased "Dawns Early Light" during a visit to Williamsburg in 1978 and it remains one of my most cherished books. I am still enthralled with Thayne's descriptions of Marion's (the Swamp Fox) camp and the battles of Camden and the Pine Barrens. These novels have done more to foster my life-long love of American history than any other books I've ever read.

Well, not quite, perhaps. A couple of generations get skipped (as do several wars) between the first and second books in this series, but "Yankee Stranger" is well worth the wait. The presence of Tibby Day, now approaching 100, gives the meandering trail between books one and two a context and much-needed continuity -- and the overlap of the generations which this scenario demonstrates has always fascinated me in my own life. As in book one, Thane's characters grip you firmly and draw you unresisting into the tangle of their lives, battered by war and division, anchored by family affection and made luminous by love and passion: Eden, the Titian beauty pulled in different directions by love and loyalty; Cabot, product of an embittered father who learns to love and trust despite the cataclysm of war; Susannah and Sedgwick, the star-crossed lovers who must face the future without each other; and most joyously, Tibby Day, a matriarch in wisdom, a "character" in the idiomatic sense, and the glue that binds the family and the book together. As usual, the history in this book is exact and irreproachable, the historical characters become human, and the atmosphere is tangible and touchable. Libby Prison is juxtaposed against fashionable Willard's Hotel; war-ravaged Richmond underlines in blood-red the quaint and restful pastels of ante-bellum Williamsburg; military camps stand vivid against civilized family holidays and the gentle spirit of Tibby Day presides over all. Courage and dedication, sacrifice and humor, the entire spectrum of human emotion emerges in this book. The superficial reader will be offended, as in Thane's other books, at the casually racist undertones, but the historically aware will rightly attribute them not only to the age in which the story takes place, but the era in which the author is writing. With history books firmly in hand and love stories firmly in mind, Thane once more slips us back through time into a memorable past -- and makes us eager to move forward to the next book in the series!

I first read the Williamsburg Novels when I was a senior in high school in El Dorado Springs, Missouri. My history teacher suggested that I read the books and I have read them all at least 5 times since 1968. In 1978 I purchased the novels and treasure them! History and loving family relationships from the Revolutionary War through WWII. Thanks Mrs. Elliott for getting me started!

This is the second of Elswyth Thane's Williamsburg series, and the third book of hers that I've read, and I have to say that I am now HOOKED! Thane's writing is wonderfully evocative and yet understated. She manages to convey a strong sense of time and place, and the subtleties of her many characters, but without ever going into long, descriptive passages. She says so much with just a few words or sentences.

Yankee Stranger continues the saga of the Day and Sprague families that was begun in Dawn's Early Light. Although Yankee Stranger could be considered a sequel, it quite easily stands on its own, and even someone who hasn't read Dawn's Early Light would have no problem following the narrative.

Again, Thane has created a cast of varied and engaging characters; the cast is larger in Yankee Stranger, comprised of the various members of the Day and Sprague families who have by now intermarried several times, and whose relationships are therefore a bit tangled. And at the head of it all is Tibby Day, who is 95 when the book opens, the matriarch of the Day/Sprague clan and the recipient of the unequivocal devotion of every one of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Tibby is feisty, flirtatious and as indomitable as ever. Although the Civil War rages around her she is completely unafraid of Grant, Sherman or any of the Union soldiers; she has survived the Revolutionary War, after all! It is this strength on which her entire family leans and, although she occupies a primarily background role in this book, her presence and her uncanny insight and wisdom are strongly felt.

Although Yankee Stranger, just as Dawn's Early Light, is set against the backdrop of a major war, here the war is a much larger presence; the details of the various battles occupy a more prominent place. However, even if you find such scenes uninteresting, I encourage you to persist because the last 70 pages or so of the book are incredibly good. The last several scenes of the book were riveting.

The only criticisms I have about this book are that, again, just as in Dawn's Early Light, the slavery situation is pretty much glossed over. Yes, in Yankee Stranger there technically are no slaves, as Tibby has freed all of hers and they are actually paid servants. Nevertheless, they seem just a little too contented for realism; however, I have read enough books written in this era (the 1940s) to understand that this is how slavery was pretty much treated in popular literature at that time, and to accept it as such. My only other criticism is that the very end of the book -- the last scene or two -- seemed to wrap up a little too quickly. It felt rushed, and I wish Thane would have slowed it down a bit and explored some of the characters' feelings a little more.

However, I don't feel that either of these two issues pull down the quality of this book. In fact, I like the slightly more bittersweet ending Thane gave to this second book, and for me it is a solid 5 stars. I definitely am looking forward to reading the rest of this series.

I discovered Thane's Williamsburg novels as a sophomore in high school in the 1970's. I devoured them! My reading sealed my decision to major in history at university, and now I have a PhD in history. I was so enamoured of the characters that I named my daughter Susannah, after one of the major figures in "Yankee Stranger." Had she been a boy, she'd have been "Sedgwick." For anyone who loves history and enjoys the personalization of history, I can think of no other historical fiction that so satisfies. I have read these books many times, and have always enjoyed them thoroughly.

Elswyth Thane, Yankee Stranger is the second in her series. It is set during the Civil War. Tibby is in her nineties and a gracious lady. The family relationships are convoluted but not dysfunctional. I read this first in my teens and will read it again when I am old.

The Williamsburg novels by Thane are historical romance novels at their finest. This is the second summer I've read them because of the interesting relationships between the characters and historical information they contain. This series is a great source of relaxation to beat the summer heat.

"It was her birthday, and she was ninety-five."

Tibby Day might be ninety-five, but she's still the matriarch of the Day/Sprague families and a real treat for those who read her story in Dawn's Early Light, the first book in Thane's Williamsburg series. Tensions between the North and the South are heating up, and Yankee Cabot Murray finds himself a not so welcome guest in some households, but Tibby welcomes him into her home and marks him as the one man suitable for her favorite granddaughter Eden. Sparks are flying between the two, but is their love strong enough to surmount the obstacles ahead of them as the war between the states begins?

"It was lonely to be in love and not be able to mention his name, or hear from him, or even to answer his letter."

That's about all I'm going to tell you - read it for yourself. The novel covers the Civil War from start to finish, and a big thumbs up to Thane for imparting the important battle details to the reader without the endless exposition one finds in so many other Civil War novels (John Jakes, anyone?). I loved watching Eden and Cabot's relationship grow and change as war changed all of them (Cabot is a seriously dreamy hunk BTW). I adored Tibby who had the gumption to stand up to any damned Yankee soldier with the nerve to search her home for you-know-who that was hidden under her bed. And then there was the doomed relationship between too closely related Sedgwick and Sue. **sniff**

The large extended Day/Sprague families are a bit confusing at the start, so keep your focus on Eden/Cabot, Tibby and Sue/Sedgwick and the rest of them will fit into place as you continue reading. I have noticed some comments from other readers being somewhat shocked at the casual attitudes towards the slaves, but remember this was written many, many years before we became so terribly politically correct. Probably my only real complaint is that the ending is a bit too abrupt and I would have enjoyed some more payola or an epilogue to finish things off.

Highly recommended and I will definitely be continuing on with this series.

I first read the Women of Williamsburg series as a young teenager. They were not only great reading and wonderful stories, but lots of history mixed in. All of the books are great of course, but this one is one of my favorite that I sem to go back to & read again every couple of years. I am excited to finally find a matching set of the series.Most of the women in my family have read these books- my grandmother, who in turn got my mother to read, who in turn got me to read. I cannot wait until my daughter is old enough to read & enjoy them as well.

This was the first book I read in the series...and have since devoured all of them. The first 3 remain my favorites...my only complaint/gripe is that Eden is given such short shrift after "Yankee Stranger". She's such a compelling person...and to suddenly disappear almost from the pages is very disappointing. At least we keep up with the exploits of Susannah and Bracken. This is a wonderful series for romance..and you learn a lot about history, besides!