Resumen
Resumen de Tener y conservar
Para quién es
For readers who love romance with sword play, sea chases and a real historical setting, and anyone curious about early Virginia.
De qué trata este libro
To Have and to Hold is a historical romance by the American writer Mary Johnston, published in 1900. It is set in Virginia in the early 1620s, when Jamestown was a young and shaky English colony. The story is told in the first person by Ralph Percy, a soldier and planter who has little money and no wife. Johnston wrote it after careful reading about the colony, and she fills it with ships, forests, storms, sword fights and danger on every side.
The book gives you three things at once. It is a love story that begins with a marriage of strangers. It is an adventure with pirates, hostile courtiers and the threat of war with the native peoples. And it is a picture of a colony where men are short of women, food and law. In this summary you will meet the main people, follow the story up to the point where it is best left unspoiled, and see how Johnston builds her tale. First, we go to the Jamestown shore, where a ship has just arrived with a very unusual cargo.
En este resumen
- 1A ship of brides reaches JamestownFree
- 2A wife who is not what she seems
- 3Lord Carnal and the danger from court
- 4Friends, pirates and wild country
- 5Honor, love and the cost of loyalty
- 6A swift tale told by its hero
Idea clave 1 de 6
A ship of brides reaches Jamestown
The story opens at Jamestown, the English settlement on the James River. Ralph Percy is a plain, hard-bitten gentleman who has fought in wars abroad and now holds land in Virginia. He lives at his plantation, Weyanoke, and he is used to danger, short rations and men who settle quarrels with steel.
A ship arrives from England with young women who have come to be married to the colonists. The settlers are far from home and have few wives among them, so the colony needs families if it is to last. Each man who takes a bride must pay for her passage, and the payment is made in tobacco, the crop on which the colony depends. The scene is part comedy and part hardship, and Johnston uses it to show how strange and practical life in Virginia can be.
Ralph does not go to the shore looking for romance. He is made to feel that a man in his position ought to marry, and he goes with a mix of doubt and curiosity. He is also a man of deep reserve, and he tells his story with a dry humor that makes him easy to trust. The listener sees at once that he is brave but not boastful.
The mood of this first part is light but alive with risk. Ralph is about to make a choice that will change his life, and he does not yet know how much. The question that drives the book is already in place. What happens when two strangers are bound together by law before they know each other at all?
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Tener y conservar
What is To Have and to Hold about?
It is a historical romance set in Virginia in the early 1620s. A planter named Ralph Percy marries a mysterious young woman, and they face pirates, danger from a nobleman at court and the perils of the colony.
Is To Have and to Hold a true story?
No, it is a novel. The main characters are invented, but Johnston set them in the real colony of Jamestown and drew on history, including King James I and the Powhatan leader Opechancanough.
When was To Have and to Hold written?
Mary Johnston published it in 1900. It was among the most widely read American historical novels of its day, and it helped bring her wide attention as a writer from Virginia.
Who is Lord Carnal in To Have and to Hold?
Lord Carnal is the villain, a nobleman at the court of King James I. He pursues Jocelyn Leigh and uses his rank and cunning to threaten Ralph Percy and the life they build.
Is To Have and to Hold hard to read?
Not very. The plot moves fast and Ralph tells it in a clear, wry voice.