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Summary: War in Eden!
Review: Writing fiction about history requires factual accuracy, perceptive understanding of the typical and unique individuals living in a specific time, and the ability to create that world's particular conflicts in creative, fluid language. Rita Gerlach has deftly achieved all of the above in Thorns in Eden, an account of pre-Revolutionary colonial life in what was much later to be called the United States of America.Meet John (Jack) Nash, an immigrant from England, who has forsworn an upper class status to forge a free, dignified world in Maryland. Working diligently, he builds a home that he knows might be threatened by a looming war with his former countrymen. On what he knows will be his last visit to see his parents in England, his life is transformed when he meets Rebecah Cathlene Brent. She however is highly conflicted because she is both deeply in love with him but has more than adequate reason to reject his proposal. Tragically wounded, he returns to America only to immediately find that the Indians surrounding his hometown have suffered a grievous massacre at the hands of a rabble. The previously warring Indian tribes have united and vowed to destroy every white man, woman and child. Who is right or wrong? The answers are tensely depicted as borderline for both sides. Rebecah Brent has much to ponder as she initially hesitates, then passionately responds, and finally goes against her better understanding of this man from America who has altered her world with almost unbearable depth. What circumstance turns such consuming love to staunch refusal? What is it like to be an independent woman who must obey society's dictates about marriage, education, and finances? Meticulously researching this period, Rita Gerlach has depicted several actual events, such as the Indian wars, the burning of the Peggy Stewart ship (Annapolis Tea Party), and the story of the massacre of Chief Logan's people. Actual characters in this and a subsequent novel include Chief Logan, Michael Cresap, Thomas Johnson, Archibald Boyd, William Paca, John Wesley, and John Hanson. Drunks, preying males, freedom-loving colonialists, a former slave who dares not to dream of freedom for his people, an Indian brother torn between his love for his people and his friendship with some white men, rigid and liberal relatives and friends, the growing influence of John Wesley's preaching, hardness and compassion for the poor and imprisoned... this and more fill these densely packed pages to create a wonderfully-written historical novel that reflects the peace, tension, and in-between atmosphere of America and England and the people therein. This author writes with lyrical prose that will transport you to the point where you can see and hear America's Eden-like, natural beauty. You will love, despise, and be suspended in ambivalence about the characters and situations depicted herein. Indeed, you will hate for this story to end. What a delightful read this was and what impressionable memories remain from what should be heralded and enjoyed by a large reading audience! Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on June 29, 2004
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