The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Pope

Hiya!

Today, I’m sharing a book I recently read (I’m actually reading fiction after an oppressive school year! (note: the workload was oppressive, that is, not the actual year)). I was browsing at the lovely private library and this book caught my eye while the synopsis grabbed my attention.

Plot *spoilers ahead*

Young orphaned Peggy Grahame (young is highly debatable–she seems to act like a teenager but…) is sent to her uncle Enos’s care at the isolated Restandbethankful (the old family mansion). On her roundabout way there, she meets a young English scholar, Pat Thorne, and his dilapidated Ford Betsy. When he gives her a ride home, her uncle angrily sends him away. As Peggy settle in, she meets the ghosts of her ancestors who explain the family history and how some ancestors married–thereby explaining unexplained American Revolution history. She finds out the uncle Enos knows Pat–who happens to be distantly related to the Grahame family and, to Peggy’s surprise, is an earl in England. They eventually become a couple.

Nota bene: The present is somewhere in the 1930’s to the 1950’s, I think.

What I think:

I was captivated by the skillful molding of the characters into real people with complexities in their emotions, personalities, opinions, and their being: the imaginative, feisty Peggy; charming and lazy Pat; and the frumpy, reclusive uncle Enos.

The plot was interesting in that it seemed to happen in the real world with references to the American Revolution. The structure was tiring in that the author kept switching between Peggy’s experiences and the ghosts narrating their stories.

Overall, it’s a great American Revolutionary centered piece of fiction. At the end of the book, I had a big “ah ha!” moment. History buff? you’ll ❤ it,

What authors do you enjoy reading? Favorite piece of historical fiction?