Quick read, but very bizarre. The whole reason for Emme going to the New World was to be a midwife/wetnurse for her boss' family, but she has no midwife experience, and considering she isn't pregnant/mother to a baby at the time, the wet nurse thing seems pretty farfetched as well.

Beyond that, the plot is just very "we do this, and then this happens, then this" Just seemed repetitive. Wouldn't recommend.

The premise was creative and promising, but I found most of the novel boring, and except for the final fifth of the book, it didn't keep my interest.

This has to be one of the most interesting and fascinating novels I’ve read in a long while. The story of the Lost Colony is apparently very familiar to most Americans but elsewhere, less so. I don’t know why as you would think people going missing en masse would raise an eyebrow or two!

There are more than a few historical links to the British as well.It was a late 16th-century attempt by none other than Queen Elizabeth I to establish a permanent English settlement and was even founded by Sir Walter Raleigh.

What’s more, this is a very clever mix of fact and fiction for the narrator Emme Merrimoth was a real person and was part of the Lost Colony. She was a widow but was used and abused by some very high up men in power at the time. She is accused of all sorts and ostracized and so tells a quite remarkable account of life at that time and of a colony under pressure.

I can’t believe this story is not well known outside of the states as all the places are real, the story is real and you immediately feel as if you’ re transported back in time and feeling the emotions, the conflict and the anguish of those who lived there at the time.

This is one amazing puzzle of history and I now want to head straight out to North Carolina to see all the heritage museums and real locations for myself. Just wow. Imagine stepping back in history and trying to find out what happened?Well I feel I have with this novel.

Highly recommended!

A cast of unsympathetic, one-dimensional characters who experience unbelievable, historically improbable events. A lot of gratuitous sex for such a short book. I called it quits about 1/3 in.

Too bad, really. The lost colony of Roanoke is one of my favorite historical mysteries.

Yeah, this was not the book for me. I wanted a historical fiction novel about Roanoke. What I got was essentially 1580s New World erotica. The MC sleeps with 4 men throughout the novel, is nearly raped by 2 more, and references her past as a prostitute (?? it's never directly stated, but she talks about entertaining members of a Mason guild.)

Naturally Emme is gorgeous and has ridiculously big boobs that make all the men (White and Native American) want her. Especially once she begins mingling with the Croatoan tribe and starts dressing as they do: only a flimsy piece of animal skin for a skirt. Oh and let's not forget how Emme all but wills herself to begin lactating so she can assume duties as a wet nurse, only to have the child taken away and when the pain of her engorged (and impossibly gigantic, remember) breasts becomes too much, a gentleman kindly takes it upon himself to step up and being suckling away.

No. This read more like a disturbing fantasy and more than once I was ready to abandon it but kept going in the hopes it would get better. It didn't.

For more thoughts, head over to The Pretty Good Gatsby!

i didn't actually finish this book, because. nah. but i did want to shout out to everybody in the reviews who's like "her being a wet nurse like that is unrealistic! that's not how breastfeeding works!" because that's actually. super realistic. especially given that the main character had had children before, and been able to lactate--all she'd have to do is establish enough of a demand to get a supply going again. so. you know. find the rest of this book to list out as stupid things, i guess.

I chose this as my "read historical fiction set before 1900" (Read Harder), but it's really historical fantasy and the fact that it was a poor choice is my fault. The historical part:
1) In 1585-6 an English colony was set down at Roanoke, the fleet left to get supplies, there was an attack by peoples of the First Nations which was repelled.
2) In 1586 - Sir Francis Drake happened by and collected those that wanted to return to England with him. With them they also brought the following: potatoes, tobacco, and corn. A small contingent was left to protect England's interests in the Americas.
3) 1587 a new colony was dispatched, this time to Chesapeake bay, but they (the Governor and a few others) set down at Roanoke to check in with the guard...which was gone. duh duh duhn!
4) For reasons, this group was not allowed back on the ships and the entire colony was disembarked at Roanoke rather than continuing to Chesapeake.
5) A colonist is killed, the colony feels threatened, and Gov. White heads to England (suddenly allowed back on board the ship!) to explain the colony's fears. Time passes. White returns in 1590 and finds the colony gone. The only clue was the word "CROATOAN" carved into a fence. This is a reference to an First Nations settlement nearby, but due to a brewing storm the fleet left without checking....duh duh duhn!
Now the fantasy:
This is the purported diary of a fictional female colonist, Emme Merrimoth, twice married, childless (3 dead back in London) who is the domestic servant and soon to be wet nurse for a pair of colonists. She is promiscuous, bedding the fleet captain, the governor, one of the other colonists, and finally one of the originial 15 who was an Indian captive. She's disliked by most of the colonists, but gets on well with the First Peoples.
My issues: the wet nursing bit (how is this possible?!!!), the promiscuity (why, why, why?!!!), the level of her education (would a domestic be able to write a journal and where did she get the paper?), and the whole noble vs. evil savage vibe. Basically, it suffers from being a first novel and a man writing a female perspective. Not quite man-splaining, but not far off.
Not recommended but not quite airborne.

The book in today's post was generously sent to me by Pegasus Books. There are some publishers that totally get the kind of books that I like and Pegasus is right at the top of the list. They sent me a copy of A Novel of the Lost Colony, Left in the Wind: The Roanoke Journal of Emme Merrimoth by Ed Gray which comes out on May 2nd of this year. It's a historical fiction book about the English that attempted to colonize Roanoke at the end of the 16th century...and were never heard from again. Gray took that concept and ran with it in a completely unique way. As the title suggests, it's the fictionalized journal of Emme who we know was one of the colonists who traveled to Roanoke. The preface explains that the governor who traveled over with the more than 100 individuals (including women and children) returned back to England for supplies, went back to Roanoke, and discovered that the colony was empty. There was no investigation. Gray created an entire backstory for 1. Why the governor really went back to England and 2. What actually happened to the colonists. I have to confess that this area of history is one which I am abysmally ignorant. However, the best works of historical fiction make the reader want to do their own research and if it's a really excellent book it will make you want to go out into the field to see it with your own eyes. I will warn that this book went in directions that I hadn't expected (there are scenes of a sexual nature is what I'm getting at here) but it fits with the characterization of Emme who is very sexually liberated for her time. It was fast paced, engaging, and had me wanting to know just what exactly happened to those people...maybe Gray had it spot on...guess we'll never know. If you're a history buff and/or you like an engrossing read (who doesn't?) then I highly recommend you go out and pick up Left in the Wind which comes out on May 2, 2016.