Colonial Williamsburg lives again in this rich story which is Elswyth Thane's first novel of American history. Against a background of Williamsburg's quiet streets, the pomp and glitter of the Palace during the last days of British rule, and the excitement and triumph which swirled through the Raleigh Tavern, we see the people of Williamsburg whom history has forgotten: aristocratic St. John Sprague, who became George Washington's aide; Regina Greensleeves, the spoilt Virginia Beauty; Julian Day, the young schoolmaster, ...
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Colonial Williamsburg lives again in this rich story which is Elswyth Thane's first novel of American history. Against a background of Williamsburg's quiet streets, the pomp and glitter of the Palace during the last days of British rule, and the excitement and triumph which swirled through the Raleigh Tavern, we see the people of Williamsburg whom history has forgotten: aristocratic St. John Sprague, who became George Washington's aide; Regina Greensleeves, the spoilt Virginia Beauty; Julian Day, the young schoolmaster, just arrived from England; and finally, Tibby, the most appealing, irresistible creature Miss Thane has ever written about. Washington, Jefferson, Lafayette, Greene, Francis Marion, and the rest of that brilliant galaxy are portrayed not as historical figures but as men. We see de Kalb's gallant death under a cavalry charge at Camden, the swamp-encircled camp which was Marion's fastness on the Peedee, and the cat-and-mouse game between Cornwallis and Lafayette, which ended in Cornwallis's unlucky stand at Yorktown. "Dawn's Early Light" is the human story behind America's first war for liberty, and of men and women loving and laughing through war to the dawn of a better world.
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I love this book more than almost any other. It's an exciting and accurate historical novel, it's beautifully romantic, and it's just so NICE, which is to say nearly everyone in it is nice and when they aren't they mostly get their just desserts! It's also the first, and best of the Williamsburg novels, which are all definitely worth reading, especially Ever After, which is almost exactly as wonderful as Dawn's Early Light, and I'm never quite sure which is better, although I think it's Dawn's Early Light (and the one between them, Yankee Stranger, is also wonderful, although the people aren't quite as lovely). It's about the American Revolution, and whether you know anything about the American Revolution or not, you won't be bored or offended by inaccurate details. Specifically, it's about a young Englishman who goes to Virginia and finds himself in the middle of the Revolution. Frankly, unless you hate historical novels, books about good people mostly being rewarded for their virtues (but not always, which I guess is realism, but it usually makes me cry), or nice love stories (because it's a love story, but not the kind of novel where people go around swooning, making endless flowery declarations of love, or having sex in the back bedrooms--come on, this is eighteenth century Virginia!), you should read this book. It's beautifully written, and it's a beautiful story, and you will learn so much, and probably acquire an addiction to the Williamsburg Novels, which, if you like this book, you should read all of once (all the novels), and then you'll probably be happy to never read the last four or so again, but you won't regret reading them once (by the way, regarding non-Williamsburg books, Tryst, by the same author, is also a lovely book, and so is The Lost General; her others aren't so great, but are still worthwhile).
