The Furies

I enjoyed the Kent Family Chronicles years ago and I am re-reading them again 25 years later. A fantastic way to know about our history.

This book starts out with Amanda Kent in the battle of the Alamo. After the battle she is taken prisoner by a Mexican soldier, named Cordoba, who treats her well. Cordoba dies in a battle and Amanda is freed. She stays in Texas long enough to have Cordoba's son, Louis Kent. She then moves to California to try and make money so that she can head back to Boston. After about thirteen years she has aquired enough money from the gold rush to head beack east so that she can buy back her grandfather's publishing company, Kent & Son's. Once out east Amanda finds out the her grandfather was a founder in a company that has slowly been accumulating money that she now owns. She is now able to make her mark in New York and Boston. Amanda finally restores Kent & Son's to the Kent family after she kills Stovall, the owner, and buys it from them. She dies only seventeen days after Stovall dies. This book is full of historical figures and events. It also shows the courageous and determined Amanda get around the obstacles in her life.

The line of the Kent famiy is followed through with Amanda Kent as the main player. Amanda, daughter of Gilbert Kent was kidnapped and held as a wife by an Indian brave until his death when she was released.She then married a fur trapper who also died,leaving her to m ake her living as a bar keeper until she was caught up in the Battle of the Alamo and again taken prisoner as the woman of a Mexican Officer.She was treated well by him and gave birth to his son,Louis. By chance, she met,very briefly, with her cousin Jared who had been searching for her for years and inherited, on behalf of his son Jephtha,the control of his share of a gold mine. Determined to restore the printing firm of Kent and Sons in Boston to the family control, she and Louis set up house in Boston where she battles for ownership of the firm from the evil Hamilton Stovall,the man who swindled her family of their fortune and business.

just keep reading, they keep getting better....

"The Furies" is excellent. Though "The Seekers" got a little boring with unsettled Abraham, this book is full of the excitement of the first two. This time, the story is told from the perspective of Amanda Kent. When the story opens up, Amanda is one of the few women holed out in the Alamo mission as the Mexican troops approach. Her journey from there leads her into two relationships, a couple of business ventures, the birth of a child, a shocking reunion, and an even more stunning revelation about the family business that was left behind in Boston. Amanda confronts Santa Anna, tolerates the men with "gold fever," makes the acquaintance of Frederick Douglass, inadvertently gets dragged into the slavery issue, and makes plans to regain the family business and restore honor to the Kent name. On the outskirts of the story, Jared's preacher son, Jephtha, is struggling with the slavery issue in his church and in his family. New friends introduced include a flowery romance novelist and a young Irishman who comes to work for Amanda. While some things are looking up, the future of the family is brought into question as the next heir of the Kent fortune shows little interest in the principles of the family. The most exciting stuff happens at the end of the book, and the last couple of pages are very emotional. Amanda Kent will remind you of the young Philip Kent, and you'll love her fiery spirit and clever business maneuvers. John Jakes scores again!