The settlers encounter a friendly tribe, the Croatians, and a hostile tribe, led by the ferocious Powhatan. It is decided the White, the appointed Governor, should return to England on the original ship, when it finally returns, and inform Raleigh what has happened, ask for help and discipline the rogue pilot. While the Governor is gone, the Indians attack, burn corn fields and cut fishing nets. As the settlers grow more desperate and hungry, some die of fever. But a larger concern is their own soldiers becoming more undisciplined, led by a crazed captain, who eventually names himself the new Governor. Several people who disobey him are hanged. Terror encroaches from within and without.
The legitimate Governor, White, finds Raleigh unresponsive. His first attempt at returning to Roanoke is stymied when his ship is attacked by another and the settlers’ goods are destroyed. Eventually, after three years, he does return and what he discovers is not what he expects.
Clayton has imagined a fascinating group of characters and creates a series of believable conflicts. Maggie Hagger is a beautiful 17 year-old redhead, running from a man whose brother had attacked her and was subsequently murdered by Thomas, her companion. Governor White, an artist, buys her as a maid to help with his daughter, son-in-law and newborn child. Stafford is the cruel, Indian hating officer who treats everyone as if they were his servants. Manteo is an English-educated Croatian who Maggie falls in love with. There are a dozen more characters profiled with polished assurance, interacting, some meeting a sad demise. The flow never lags, switching back and forth between Roanoke and England.
The author did enormous research and it has paid off; the language and dialogue are quite believable. We are given portraits of Indian culture that enhance the narrative. What is overwhelmingly evident is how vulnerable settlers, especially women and children, were as they tried to establish these colonies. Clayton has written four other novels and he certainly knows his territory.
Reviewed by Joe DelPriore for IndieReader