Story summary
Samenvatting van Om te hebben en te behouden
- 8 min. leestijd
- 10 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
Captain Ralph Percy dices for a bride in 1621 Virginia and weds a stranger hunted by the King's favorite.
3 months free · unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost
Nothing to pay today · We mailen je voordat je betaalt · Online opzeggen in twee klikken
Om te hebben en te behouden in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 7 h 40 min6 h 5 min fast, 9 h 5 min slow
- Lengte
- 109.400 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1900by Mary Johnston
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
3 maanden gratis
Ontvang de volledige samenvatting van Om te hebben en te behouden, gratis
- 200.000+ klassiekers als e-books, luisterboeken en samenvattingen in 15 minuten, en gedrukte boeken, ook in grote letters, tegen drukkosten
- Tot 5 lezers bij je thuis met één plan
Om te hebben en te behouden in short
To Have and to Hold follows a soldier who, on a roll of the dice, marries a stranger at a Jamestown marriage market in 1621. She is a King's ward fleeing his authority, and the King's favorite crosses the ocean to claim her. What you keep is a sense of loyalty tested again and again.
What Om te hebben en te behouden is about
What would you do if a throw of the dice decided your marriage? In midsummer 1621, Captain Ralph Percy, a scarred old soldier on a rough tobacco plantation in Virginia, plays exactly that game on the night before his thirty-sixth birthday. He throws the lowest roll possible, and he is a man who keeps his oaths.
Ralph narrates To Have and to Hold in the dry voice of a fighting man.
Voor wie is het?. Readers who love historical adventures with sword fights, secret identities, dramatic ocean storms and deepening romance will enjoy this novel. It also suits readers drawn to early Virginia and those who enjoy romance alongside adventure.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A throw of the dice sends Ralph to market
Ralph Percy sits on his doorstep at Weyanoke, watching the light die on the river. He distrusts the Indians who wander among the English, above all their emperor Opechancanough. His friend John Rolfe rides in with news. A ship carrying ninety English maids has landed at Jamestown, and every bachelor is rushing to buy a wife for one hundred and twenty pounds of tobacco.
Ralph laughs, yet the cold hearth and dirty floor sting him after Rolfe leaves. That night he swears that if he throws ambs-ace, the lowest score, he will follow his friend's advice. He throws it. At dawn he sails downriver in a stained buff suit and muddy boots, for he does not make empty oaths over dice.
In Jamestown a huge man named Jeremy Sparrow climbs the pillory and begins a psalm so powerful that the whole square joins in. The maids ignore Ralph because of his clothes, so he walks alone by the river. There he finds a woman fighting off a lawyer named Sharpless, and he throws the man into the water. He asks her to marry him, and she gives her name as Jocelyn Leigh, though the ship's list says Patience Worth.
A rash promise from a man who keeps his word sets the whole book in motion.
- 2Begin gratis met lezen
A bride who has a secret to confess
The boat ride home is silent.
- 3Begin gratis met lezen
The King's favorite arrives in Jamestown
Ralph and Jocelyn ride to Jamestown with Diccon.
- 4Begin gratis met lezen
A duel is stopped and an autumn of waiting begins
At sunrise Ralph meets Carnal in the field behind the church, with Rolfe as his second and Master Pory as Carnal's.
- 5Begin gratis met lezen
The forest trap and the haunted wood
Trouble with the Paspahegh Indians calls Ralph away before dawn.
- 6Begin gratis met lezen
A flight by night and a false name on a pirate deck
At a bowls match on the Governor's lawn, Ralph wins on the last throw.
- 7Begin gratis met lezen
Playing at pirates in a sea of flowers
The pirate ship sails south into the Indies, and the cast plays its parts day after day.
- 8Begin gratis met lezen
Honor, names and a love chosen freely
Names matter in this book.
- 9Begin gratis met lezen
The colony, the river and a shadow in the forest
Virginia is more than a backdrop.
- 10Begin gratis met lezen
How the tale is told, in one soldier's voice
Ralph tells his own story, and his voice shapes everything.
Read all 10 key ideas now
3 months free, then USD 0,14 a day: unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost.
- Nothing to pay today
- We mailen je voordat je betaalt
- Online opzeggen in twee klikken
Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Ralph Percy A scarred soldier and planter at Weyanoke who keeps his word, even when it binds him to a stranger and a powerful enemy.
- Jocelyn Leigh A proud young ward of the King who flees England in disguise and weds Ralph to escape a forced marriage.
- Jeremy Sparrow A giant minister with a stage actor's past, a gentle heart and enormous strength, who becomes Ralph's loyal friend.
- Lord Carnal The King's handsome new favorite, who follows Jocelyn to Virginia and means to have her by any means.
- Diccon Ralph's rough, gambling servant, once saved from Dale's wheel, who serves his master with fierce and stubborn loyalty.
- John Rolfe Ralph's gentle friend, the widower of Pocahontas, who urges him to marry and stands by him in every danger.
- Nantauquas A noble Indian prince, son of Powhatan, who befriends the English but must choose between them and his own people.
- Nicolo Lord Carnal's thin, smiling Italian physician, a poisoner whom men call the Black Death.
How it ends (spoiler)
Ralph and Jocelyn survive. The Indian rising nearly destroys the colony, though Jamestown holds, and Diccon dies of a bullet in the forest, forgiven and again his master's man. Lord Carnal, ruined and having taken slow poison himself, plans to sail home and be buried at sea. Ralph, sure that Jocelyn is dead, finds her alive in the haunted wood with Jeremy. A letter from Buckingham approves their marriage, so the couple can sail for England together.
The whole book is coming to your plan
The full text of Om te hebben en te behouden opens soon. Keep this summary as a file today.
Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way. Email me when it is printed
Vragen over Om te hebben en te behouden
What is To Have and to Hold about?
It tells of Captain Ralph Percy, a soldier in 1621 Virginia who marries a stranger from a ship of English maids. She is a runaway ward of the King, and the King's favorite follows to claim her.
Is To Have and to Hold a true story?
No, the main characters are invented, but the setting is real. Jamestown, Governor Yeardley, John Rolfe, the shipment of brides and the Indian leaders Opechancanough and Nantauquas come from early Virginia history.
Who is Jeremy Sparrow?
Jeremy Sparrow is a huge, big-hearted minister at Jamestown, once an actor in London. He becomes Ralph's closest friend, using his strength, his singing voice and his stage tricks to protect Ralph and Jocelyn.
Why does Ralph throw dice at the start?
Ralph is lonely on his rough plantation, and his friend Rolfe urges him to buy a wife. He decides by a game of dice, swearing to follow the advice if he rolls ambs-ace. He does, and keeps his oath.
Is To Have and to Hold easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that the plot moves fast and the chapters are short. Ralph tells the story in a plain voice, with duels, storms, disguises and sharp humor to carry you from scene to scene.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Johnston, Mary. To Have and to Hold. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/to-have-and-to-hold.
Johnston, M. (2026). To have and to hold. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/to-have-and-to-hold (Original work published 1900)
Johnston, Mary. To Have and to Hold. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/to-have-and-to-hold.
@book{johnston2026have,
author = {Johnston, Mary},
title = {To Have and to Hold},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/to-have-and-to-hold},
note = {First published 1900}
}
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Pride and Prejudice
The Iliad
Romeo and Juliet
The Picture of Dorian Gray3 maanden gratis
Ontvang de volledige samenvatting van Om te hebben en te behouden, gratis
- 200.000+ klassiekers als e-books, luisterboeken en samenvattingen in 15 minuten, en gedrukte boeken, ook in grote letters, tegen drukkosten
- Tot 5 lezers bij je thuis met één plan
