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In colonial Virginia, keeping your word is a matter of honor—and trusting someone can be a matter of survival.
Mary Johnston’s The Old Dominion places honor, betrayal, and survival in a colony shaped by danger. English settlers live along tidal rivers, with forest behind them and the ocean as their only road home. Here, people depend on one another for safety, and loyalty carries real weight.
Johnston explores the pull between duty and conscience in a world where a gentleman must keep his word, defend his name, and stand by his friends. Her historical romance brings vivid action, strong feeling, and formal speech to early Virginia. The setting shapes the choices, while betrayal tests the bonds that help people survive.
What you’ll discover
- A colony edged by wilderness Enter a Virginia of tidal rivers, forests, and an ocean separating settlers from home.
- The demands of honor Explore a world where keeping promises and defending a name place heavy demands on people.
- Trust under pressure Consider what betrayal means when people rely on each other for their safety.
- Duty against conscience Follow the tension between what loyalty requires and what conscience asks.
- History with strong feeling Experience Johnston’s historical romance through vivid action, heightened drama, and a strong sense of place.
Who will love it
Readers who love sweeping historical romance and plantation life in early America will enjoy sword fights, sieges, forest journeys and a proud heroine who changes through danger.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A love story meets a conspiracy
- Silk and chains meet at Verney
- Hidden suffering feeds a rising
- Humiliation draws Landless into the plot
- A storm briefly erases rank
- Freedom means different things to everyone
- Honor survives the loss of rank
- Landscape and omens carry the tension
Who’s who
- Godfrey LandlessA convict and former Commonwealth soldier who claims he is innocent, and who wants freedom and the chance to prove his honor.
- Patricia VerneyThe proud, beautiful daughter of a planter, who loves fashion and the Cavalier world and slowly learns to look past rank.
- Sir Charles CarewA witty, ruthless courtier from King Charles's court who wants Patricia's hand and her father's fortune.
- Colonel Richard VerneyA jovial, loyal planter and councilor who loves his daughter and his land and fears a rising of servants.
- Robert GodwynA gentle, lame net mender and old Commonwealth man who dreams of a Virginia republic and plans an uprising.
- Win-Grace PorringerA branded Muggletonian fanatic who curses everyone and helps the conspirators with fierce zeal.
- Luiz SebastianA smooth mulatto slave who plots his own revenge and wants far more than the rebels offer.
- MonakatockaA Susquehannock captive and chief who owes Landless a debt and wants to return to his people.
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The Old Dominion
On a Virginia wharf, a planter's daughter waits for lace as a convict steps off a nearby sloop.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“We are a little bit of England set down here in the wilderness.”
In short
Would you wait for a ship in a swamp, dressed for a court three thousand miles away? In the summer of 1663, Patricia Verney stands on a Virginia porch with a silk fan in her hand.
The Old Dominion at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 45 min5 h 20 min fast, 8 h slow
- Length
- 96,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A sloop brings lace and convicts ashore
The story opens on the porch at Verney Manor, a plantation beside the Chesapeake. Patricia, the colonel's daughter, is thrilled by the crates that hold a satin gown, blue silk stockings and the latest romances. Her cousin, Sir Charles Carew, lounges on the steps and teases her. Aunt Lettice fears every omen, from a screech owl to a spilled salt cellar.
Sir Charles has come from the court of Charles the Second, deep in debt to gamblers. He studies the estate with a gambler's eye. Patricia is rich and beautiful, so he decides to win her. Then Colonel Verney steps ashore, jovial and round, with six enslaved Africans and three convicts. He calls the convicts a poor policy and says he expects to regret them.
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Details
- Language
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- Reading time
- 7 h 30 min
- Level
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Cite this edition
Johnston, Mary. The Old Dominion. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-old-dominion.
Johnston, M. (2026). The Old Dominion. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-old-dominion
Johnston, Mary. The Old Dominion. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-old-dominion.
@book{johnston2026old,
author = {Johnston, Mary},
title = {The Old Dominion},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-old-dominion}
}
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What is The Old Dominion about?
It follows Godfrey Landless, a convict sent to a Virginia plantation in 1663. He becomes the leader of a secret uprising of servants and slaves, and a storm, a siege and a wilderness chase bind his fate to the planter's daughter.
Who is Godfrey Landless?
He is a young man of good birth who fought for Cromwell's Commonwealth at Worcester and was sent to the plantations as a convict. He claims he is innocent of the crime charged against him.
Who are the Ricahecrians in the book?
They are a fierce mountain tribe from the Blue Mountains who visit a Chickahominy village. Their chief wants a captive kinsman returned, and the refusal feeds the violence that follows.
The author
Mary Johnston
1870–1936 · American novelist and suffragist
American novelist and women's rights advocate.
“We are a little bit of England set down here in the wilderness.”
More by Mary Johnston
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