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Charleston
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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 o
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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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 o