To Have and to Hold: A Tale of Providence and Perseverance in Colonial Jamestown

This is one of the most captivating novels I've read in a long time. Originally published in 1907 for the Jamestown tercentennial, it was republished last year for the four hundredth birthday of the Jamestown settlement. Appropriately, the setting is colonial Jamestown. Several history characters are introduced and become a part of the story. James Rolfe is the best friend of the story's hero. A good writer can bring readers to laughter and tears, and Mary Johnston does both. The story has been revised by Joshua and Sarah Wean. Whatever you may be looking for in a novel, from romance, adventure, intrigue, history, forgiveness, repentance, and the mercy of God, this book has it all. Captain Ralph Percy is our hero, and a hero worthy of the name. He goes into Jamestown at the suggestion of a friend, who had informed him that he ought to take a wife. Many single young ladies were just arriving from England to be wives of the settlers, so the present time was an excellent opportunity. Captain Percy is a gentleman, and delivers a lovely young woman from being insulted. She accepted his marriage proposal on the spot. He is a Christian gentleman, and vows to love, cherish, and protect his wife with his life, though it's little she seems to care about it. Throughout the book, Percy battles hostile Indians, Spaniards, haughty English nobles, his wife's indifference to him, and his own natural desire for revenge, to eventually win his heart's desire. He constantly affirms and follows through with his duty, even through the many dangerous and precarious situations it brings him to. At last when he can conquer his bitterest enemy, he cannot bring himself to kill him as it would displease and dishonor God. This book is definitely to be highly recommended for the storyline, never mind the excellent history content. Boys and girls of all ages will relish the adventure, admire a clear picture of a valiant, Godly man, and respect a woman who chooses truth, honor and love.

I read this book in High School. Its still in my heart, I have never forgotten it. I'm now 60 years old.

My parents read this story to my brother and me when we were 6 & 8. It starts out slowly but gets really good, really fast. It has Indians, pirates, swordfights, one of the best (worst) villains ever ( & his evil cohort), betrayal, sacrifice, true love and ventriloquism. We LOVED the story then and, as adults, came to appreciate it on new levels. Same goes for my son, now grown up, to whom I gave the same privilege of great story-telling as a kid. There's a 1947(?) movie based on the book but the book itself, of course, can tell more of the story with the very best illustrations - those from your own imagination.

Clear your calendar before you start, there is no good place to put this book down. Adventure, romance, rich characters, and wry humor carry you into the forests of early colonial America, embroidered with the tragedies and intricacies of colonial/Native American relationships. The plot, at first blush simple and time-honored, is only the framework for a study in human character: the best of it, the worst of it, those in whom the base and noble are inextricably entwined. Jocelyn, the King's ward, escapes England in a bride-ship bound for the colonies and for her own reasons marries a planter who has decided--on a throw of dice--to come to Jamestown for the arrival of the brides. Their uncertain path is complicated by the arrival of the powerful suitor Jocelyn hoped to escape, by kidnapping, intrigue, arrest, shipwreck, and pirates, and the unravelling of the colony's delicate peace with the first Americans. I was captivated, not from the first page, but from the table of contents: Chapter Two "In Which I Marry in Haste," and Chapter Three "In Which I Am Like to Repent at Leisure". Read it at your leisure--you will have no reason to repent.