The Rising Shore — Roanoke

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The Rising Shore - Roanoke
Rising Shore Roanoke.jpg
Front cover
AuthorDeborah Homsher
Language English
Subject Roanoke Colony
Genre Historical fiction
PublisherBlue Hull Press
Publication date
January 10, 2007
Pages280
ISBN 0-9790516-0-6

The Rising Shore - Roanoke is a novel about the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island by Deborah Homsher. [1] The story of the Lost Colony is one of America's first great mysteries.[ citation needed ] Historically, John White, the leader of the venture, sailed home to London for supplies and then returned three years later to find no trace of the hundred colonists he'd left in Virginia except the word "Croatoan" carved in a post.

Contents

Plot

The novel tells the story of two women who sailed from London to the shore of the Virginia wilderness in 1587. Elenor White Dare is daughter of the expedition's leader and mother of Virginia Dare, the first English child born on the American continent. Freshly married and newly pregnant when she boards the ship, Elenor longs to explore and paint pictures of the New World, as her father has done, but her dreams are frustrated by her status as John White's daughter - not his son. Margaret Lawrence, her bold young servant, blazes her own path to independence as a member of the struggling colony that settles on Roanoke Island.

The adventures of Elenor and Margaret begin in Elizabethan London, cross the Atlantic, pass through the Caribbean, and climax in the Outer Banks region of North America.

Reception

Mary Kay Bird-Guilliams of Library Journal praised the book, writing, ""The invented portions are believable, including the ending--you can debate the details, but it seems quite logical. ... most public libraries will want to purchase for readers who enjoyed Jane Smiley's The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton." [2] In a positive review, The Virginian-Pilot 's Mary Ellen Riddle said, "What truly sings in Homsher's work is her amazing ability to understand life. On every page, she analyzes it with a powerful voice. One is astounded to find that the words are unique and apt." [3]

Midwest Book Review's Small Press Bookwatch called the book "an enthralling saga of a colony presumed doomed", while The Pilot 's Janis Cooke Newman stated "Homsher has a way with words". [4] [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John White (colonist and artist)</span> English governor of the Roanoke Colony (1587 to 1590)

John White was an English colonial governor, explorer, artist, and cartographer. White was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville in the first attempt to colonize Roanoke Island in 1585, acting as artist and mapmaker to the expedition. He would most famously briefly serve as the governor of the second attempt to found Roanoke Colony on the same island in 1587 and discover the colonists had mysteriously vanished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roanoke Island</span> Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, United States

Roanoke Island is an island in Dare County, bordered by the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was named after the historical Roanoke, a Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English colonization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roanoke Colony</span> Failed colony in North America (1584–1590)

Roanoke Colony was an attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. The colony was founded in 1585, but when it was visited by a ship in 1590, the colonists had inexplicably disappeared. It has come to be known as the Lost Colony, and the fate of the 112 to 121 colonists remains unknown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dare County, North Carolina</span> County in North Carolina, United States

Dare County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,915. Its county seat is Manteo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Dare</span> First child born in the Americas to English parents

Virginia Dare was the first English child born in an American English colony.

<i>Marvel 1602</i> Limited series from Marvel Comics by Neil Gaiman

Marvel 1602, or simply 1602, is an eight-issue comic book limited series published in 2003 by Marvel Comics. The limited series was written by Neil Gaiman, penciled by Andy Kubert, and digitally painted by Richard Isanove; Scott McKowen illustrated the distinctive scratchboard covers. The eight-part series takes place in a timeline where Marvel superheroes exist in the Elizabethan era; faced with the destruction of their world by a mysterious force, the heroes must fight to save their universe. Many of the early Marvel superheroes—Nick Fury, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man—as well as villains such as Doctor Doom and Magneto appear in various roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ananias Dare</span> English settler of the Roanoke Colony (c. 1560–1587)

Ananias Dare was a colonist of the Roanoke Colony of 1587. He was the husband of Eleanor White, whom he married at St Bride's Church in London, and the father of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in America. The details of Dare's death are still unknown.

Manteo High School is one of ten schools located in Dare County, North Carolina. The high school was named after the Native American chief Manteo, who assisted the Roanoke Colony. Renovations to the school were completed in 2007.

Eleanor Dare of Westminster, London, England, was a member of the Roanoke Colony and the daughter of John White, the colony's governor. While little is known about her life, more is known about her than most of the sixteen other women who left England in 1587 as part of the Roanoke expedition.

<i>The Lost Colony</i> (play)

The Lost Colony is an historical outdoor drama, written by American Paul Green and produced since 1937 in Manteo, North Carolina. It is based on accounts of Sir Walter Raleigh's attempts in the 16th century to establish a permanent settlement on Roanoke Island, then part of the Colony of Virginia. The play has been performed in an outdoor amphitheater located on the site of the original Roanoke Colony in the Outer Banks. More than four million people have seen it since 1937. It received a special Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre award in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pea Island Life-Saving Station</span> U.S. Life-Saving Service station

Pea Island Life-Saving Station was a life-saving station on Pea Island, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was the first life-saving station in the country to have an all-black crew, and it was the first in the nation to have a black man, Richard Etheridge, as commanding officer. On August 3, 2012, the second of the Coast Guard's 154-foot Sentinel-Class Cutters, USCGC Richard Etheridge (WPC-1102), was commissioned in his honor.

Virginia Women in History was an annual program sponsored by the Library of Virginia that honored Virginia women, living and dead, for their contributions to their community, region, state, and nation. The program began in 2000 under the aegis of the Virginia Foundation for Women and Delta Kappa Gamma Society International; from 2006 to 2020 it was administered by the Library of Virginia. In 2021, it was replaced by the Strong Men and Women in Virginia History program.

Denise Dorrance is an American-born cartoonist and illustrator who publishes under the name Dorrance.

Daniel Serafin Lliteras is an American author best known for his spiritual novels.

Grace White Sherwood (1660–1740), called the Witch of Pungo, is the last person known to have been convicted of witchcraft in Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paco Ahlgren</span> American novelist

Paco Ahlgren is an American writer, musician, and financial journalist. His novel, Discipline, was published in July 2007 by Greenleaf Book Group; it went on to receive three awards for commercial fiction.

Janis Cooke Newman is an American writer. She is known for her novels, Mary: Mrs. A. Lincoln and A Master Plan for Rescue as well as her memoir The Russian Word for Snow. She lives in San Francisco and is a long-time member of the San Francisco Writers’ Grotto, a member of The Castro Writers Coop, as well as the founder of the Lit Camp Writers’ Conference.

Catherine Newman is an American author of books for children and adults.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabel Evans Jones</span> American educator

Mabel Augusta Evans Jones was an American educator and writer. As superintendent of schools in Dare County, North Carolina, she wrote and produced the silent film The Lost Colony (1921), directed by Elizabeth B. Grimball and intended for classroom and community educational use.

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References

  1. Jacobs, Meredith (2008-03-09). "Tangled love, a Christian trilogy". The Fayetteville Observer . Archived from the original on 2024-01-07. Retrieved 2024-01-07.
  2. Bird-Guilliams, Mary Kay (August 2007). "Homsher, Deborah. The Rising Shore--Roanoke". Library Journal . Vol. 132, no. 13. p. 68. Archived from the original on 2024-01-07. Retrieved 2024-01-07 via Gale.
  3. Riddle, Mary Ellen (2007-08-24). "Author's Lost Colony solution is intriguing". The Virginian-Pilot . Archived from the original on 2024-01-07. Retrieved 2024-01-07.
  4. "The Fiction Shelf: The Rising Shore Roanoke". Small Press Bookwatch. Vol. 6, no. 4. Midwest Book Review. April 2007. Archived from the original on 2024-01-07. Retrieved 2024-01-07.
  5. Newman, Janis Cooke (2008-01-20). "Faye Dasen: Novel About Mary Lincoln Is a Keeper". The Pilot . Archived from the original on 2024-01-07. Retrieved 2024-01-07.