Stella Tillyard’s Call Upon the Water is an historical novel set in the seventeenth century. It follows the story of Jan Brunt, a Dutch surveyor and mapmaker who arrives in England in 1649, the year of King Charles I’s beheading. Jan is part of a team working on a new engineering project: the draining and development of the Great Level, a large expanse of marsh to the north of Ely in the English Fens. It is here that Jan meets Eliza, an illiterate young Fenland woman with whom he falls in love.

Switching between two time periods and locations – England in 1649 and Nieuw Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement which would later become New York City, in 1664 – and told in two voices, Jan’s and Eliza’s – this is a beautifully written novel and a moving, poignant story. However, I found the pace very, very slow and I struggled to stay interested in the long, detailed descriptions of Jan’s work in draining the marshes and directing the flow of the water. I don’t think I was the ideal reader for this book as I do prefer novels with stronger plots, but I did like Stella Tillyard’s writing and wouldn’t rule out reading another of her books.

I was provided with an ARC of this title by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The heart of this story examines the eternal battle between nature and humanity's attempts to tame it. It examines the path of progress as a catalyst for catastrophic change and the annihilation of indigenous culture. It illuminates the brutality of colonialism and the attempt to mold and shape others into the Western model of civilization.

The hero, Jan, is a hydraulics engineer whose life work is transforming land that has been deemed useless. Jan's projects consume him, and he is dedicated to the march of progress until he meets Eliza. Eliza is a creature of the fens, and has ties to her environment that Jan is drawn to but cannot understand.

Jan is determined to give Eliza the opportunity to rise above the circumstances of her birth. He believes that education and exposure to the world beyond her fens will give her perspective and purpose. Jan does not understand that Eliza considers herself an extension of her environment and is inherently attached to it. Eliza's rebellion is inevitable.

This book provokes philosophical discussion about humanity's role in the world, and is especially poignant as we begin to see the devastating effects of progress on our climate and landscape.

I reviewed this on my blog and will provide the details and the link directly to the publisher during the next stage of this process.

That is what I believed: that time nibbles away at the future, and in that moment puts the present behind its back. The past retreats as each present moment joins it, on and on. Yet that is far too simple. Inside us, time sways backwards and forwards from now to then, here to there, and nothing of it is lost or goes away, but it all hangs everywhere, translucent in the air. Some men turn away, and walk on, saying that the past contains only their former selves and ghosts of people and deeds. Others, like myself, live every day with it. One minute I am in Nieuw Amsterdam, the next pulled on a string into the other time that comes with me, so that here on the Heere Gracht, or as I walk across the marketplace, you and I talk.

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Looking back is a game for fools and not one that I like to play.

It is 1664. Jan Brunt, a reclusive Dutch bachelor and engineer, lives in what will soon become New York. When he receives a letter announcing the arrival of an old friend, he looks back to the greatest professional and personal challenge of his life, the first his work as an engineer on one of the greatest European development projects of the pre-industrial age, The Great Level, a draining of five hundred square miles of wetland in southeastern England and transformation of it into arable farmland. The second, the relationship he forms with a local woman while working on that vast endeavor, the love of his life. His story flips back and forth between these two periods.

Call Upon the Water is an historical novel of a time, during an ongoing English Civil War, when there was much turmoil, and much change happening in the world. It offers powerful portraits of significant places of the era, London of the interregnum, for example, with surreptitious street vendors peddling images of a decapitated King Charles, and a very visible military presence, of the sort one might expect in an occupied country. Another picture, of what is now East Anglia, shows its idyllic appeal as a natural place, in which the residents fight no wars against the natural order that provides them their livelihoods, and then later offers a dark view of the modernization, the denaturing of the place, with the use of hordes of slave laborers, prisoners of war from England’s ongoing battles. We get a look at 1664 New York, well, Niew Amsterdam, Manatus Eylandt, as the Dutch development of it grows northward, when Wall Street was still a wall, and the swampy edges of the island, as well as many wet inland spots beckoned the real estate developers of the time, and provided ample employment for an experienced Dutch engineer. We witness its handover to the English, who rename it for a crown favorite. And we get a look at the Virginia of the time, heavy with indentured labor, not yet so heavy with slaves. It appears that in the latter 17th century, every place is in need of draining, and conversion of wet land at the edges of solid land is de rigeur for the advancement of certain sorts of civilization, regardless of how that land provided for the residents, who are regarded as primitives, whether they are English fenlanders or Native Americans. Colonialism both at home and abroad requires denigration of the displaced residents.

Eliza is one such. During his early paddling through the vast area to be redesigned in The Great Level, Jan comes across a group of local women bathing. One disrobes as he draws near, unaware. Virginal Janny is shocked

So I see her as I have never seen a woman, her whole nakedness, half in my plain sight, half reflected in the water. And in the same instant, or so it feels, she lifts her head and sees me there. Her furious eyes strip me of everything and make me as naked as herself.

Well, not quite. Mortified Janny is smitten at the first instant of seeing his personal siren. When I look up I see the mere, the water and the sky, all unchanged. But I know that everything is altered and translated. I spin the coracle, work abandoned and paddle back to Ely, heavy with whatever is inside me. Guy never had a chance. Of course, he is bewitched in the way many a young man can be. (I was young once, I know) From that day on I live a different life. Something has happened to me…straight away I accept and ingest it. The woman I saw, who saw me, has taken up residence inside me… They begin to encounter each other on the water, then closer, then closer, then, well, you know, they become an item.

Each has something to teach the other, she the ways of the fenfolk, who make use of the bounty of their watery land. Like Professor Doolittle, although not to win a bet, he teaches her to read, write, very much at her request. He is making her over, as his company is making over the land. But she is no passive recipient. He teaches her also how to measure, in essence how to be an engineer. One might see Eliza not only as a siren figure but as a personification of the land itself.

From that day the sun shines on everything in the world. It feels to me as if I have a new knowledge, and that the change that came over me when you first fixed me with your glance was the beginning of it. This knowledge is not from a person or a book. It is a knowledge of what is, neither sacred nor profane, but just the world itself.

Already open to such vision, he notes more and more of the nature of the place as he spends more time with Eliza.

Stand still in a full silence and it’s loud with noises. A heron takes flight; he creaks like a ship in sail. Ducks scuffle in the reeds. I hear the beat of wings, the movement of creatures in the grass, water rippling, and the wind that accompanies me everywhere, sighing and roaring. Nature, that seems so quiet, pours out its songs. Even in the darkness there is a velvet purr of sound, of moles underground and field mice above.

One of the powerful elements of the novel is the portrayal of Eliza as a powerful woman, not only surviving in the perilous world of men, but using the knowledge she gains to survive the challenges she faces on two continents, and to secure what she wants from the universe, and maybe take a shot or two at what she perceives as dark forces.

One of the lesser elements of the book is the static nature of Jan. He is a bit stiff, personally, while possessing a naturalist’s feel for the untrammeled world. He has some notions of the sort of life he would like to build for himself, but seems unable to adapt to changes in his circumstances, remaining withdrawn and solitary. I hoped for more development of Jan’s character. Both Jan and Eliza are mostly about business, but Eliza seems much the livelier character of the two.
Jan goes through little character development, only from a young engineer to an experienced and confident one. He remains stand-offish, and sinks into the swamp of his unwillingness to act.

They share an appreciation for the beauty of the land, whether the fenlands of the Great Level or the new, exciting lands of the New World. Those are lyrical passages.

This is a novel of man in and versus nature, of colonialism at home and abroad, of both people and landscapes being subdued by political and monetary forces. Land as a source of power and freedom is central. Consideration is given to how one perceives time, Jan holding to a notion that time is a flexible thing, that one can inhabit multiple times simultaneously. This is contrasted with a New World perspective, that disdains any sort of rearward vision, and focuses on material success.

While Jan’s story makes up the bulk of the book, as he addresses his story to Eliza, she gets a chance to narrate towards the back of the book. I would have preferred to have seen their perspectives alternated, instead of being presented so separately, and would have liked learning much more about Eliza’s life before her home turf was so assaulted. A greater balance between their two tales would have been most welcome.

There are elements of excitement and danger, as the prisoners forced to work on the Great Level are less than willing, but are held in check by a dark sort who would look perfectly lovely in an SS uniform. The locals, as well, are not ecstatic about seeing their entire way of life bulldozed out of existence, and do not all endure it peacefully. Eliza’s experience is rich with peril, and we want her to find a way to survive.

Bottom line is that Call Upon the Water is a fascinating look at several places at a time in history most of us do not think about or see much in our diverse readings and entertainments. It is a worthwhile read for that alone. It offers a thoughtful look at the appeal of both nature untrammeled and the satisfying power of taming landscape, counterflows within individuals, as well as in the larger context. The love story is wonderful, for a time. But Jan seemed, despite his lyrical feelings for nature, just too withheld. You can rub two sticks together, but there will not always be a spark. There was one here, for a while, but after the initial heat, the ember never graduated to flame. That said, there is much to like here. And it probably won’t drain all your resources to check it out.

In the summer I may paddle on for days. I catch fish and travel as the wildmen do until I reach the far end of the island where it breaks into numerous inlets and beaches. Then I walk down to the open ocean and feel myself to be not a man but a part of nature, as is a star, or a dolphin that leaps for joy out in the bay. Far away round our earth lies the old world, while here I stand on the new. Waves rush up to my feet and then pull back, marbled with sand and foam.


Review posted – October 11, 2019

Publication dates
-----UK – July 5, 2018 – as The Great Level - by Chato Windus
-----USA – September 17, 2019 – by Atria Books

On Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2994329623

Most of the book is told from Jan’s point of view, like writing a diary, about the love of his life Eliza. Towards the end of the book, we get Eliza’s point of view until it goes back to Jan for the last chapter. I thought it odd that it wasn’t back and forth the whole book. I would have liked to learn Eliza’s point of view from the start.

The book was well written but too slow-paced for me. It just dragged way too much. I didn’t connect with the characters and I wasn’t sure if Eliza really cared for anyone but herself.

I liked to learn more about Jan’s trade, which I knew nothing about. And I don’t usually read about Dutch people or this period.

The first thing that went through my mind when I read the summary of this book was it sounded a lot like Philippa Gregory’s latest novel, Tidelands, which I have not read but has definitely been on my radar. I picked up Tidelands from my library but I only got a couple of chapters in before I had to return it.

Since then I’ve been meaning to pick it back up and continue the story but I have other books that have been rather diverting. So when this book came up for review I was eager to read it because it sounded so similar.

Tillyard has written a number of novels and clearly has experience in this time period so I was excited to try out this book and see how it was!

Summary

In 1649, Jan Brunt arrives in Great Britain from the Netherlands to work on draining and developing an expanse of marshy wetlands known as the Great Level. It is here in this wild country that he meets Eliza, a local woman whose love overturns his ordered vision. Determined to help her strive beyond her situation, Jan is heedless of her devotion to her home and way of life. When she uses the education Jan has given her to sabotage his work, Eliza is brutally punished, and Jan flees to the New World.

In the American colonies, profiteers on Manatus Eyland are hungry for viable land to develop, and Jan’s skills as an engineer are highly prized. His prosperous new life is rattled, however, on a spring morning when a boy delivers a note that prompts him to remember the Great Level, and confront all that was lost there. Eliza has made it to the New World and is once again using the education Jan gave her to bend the landscape—this time to find her own place of freedom.

A “story of passion, possession, and a painful education in love” (Sarah Dunant, author of In the Name of the Family), Call Upon the Water is an adventure, an unusual and intelligent love story, and a powerful comment on the relationship between humans and the environment. “Richly involving…rousing and heroic” (The Guardian), this unforgettable historical novel is perfect for fans of Hilary Mantel, Geraldine Brooks, and Philippa Gregory (summary from Goodreads).

Review

This book ended up being a lot shorter than I anticipated and as such, I thought I would finish is super fast but I actually found myself dragging it out over a few days. That’s not to say that it was bad, but it was a novel that isn’t meant to be rushed.

I think one of the things that bogged this book down a little was the language/prose. The prose was rich, but at times too rich and thick to the point of slowing things down a little. There was a lot of detail poured into this one in only a small amount of pages and even though there was a lot to enjoy in the writing, for me it just became a little much.

This book ended up being just ok for me. I thought the author did a great job with the time period and clearly feels comfortable in that time and with the characters, but the lengthy prose was a little much for me and just slowed things down unexpectedly.

I did enjoy how she made the daily lives of normal people come to life on the pages. Not every book needs to be about royalty or someone famous, sometimes its the little guys who have more impactful stories because of their normalcy and this is one of those times. While I don’t know that this book is impactful per say, but I throughly enjoyed getting to know the characters and their daily lives.

A solid three star rating for me!

Book Info and Summary

ebook, 288 pages
Published September 17th 2019 by Atria Books
ISBN 1982121017 (ISBN13: 9781982121013)
Free review copy provided by publisher, Atria Books, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and in no way influenced.
Rating: 3 stars
Genre: historical fiction

This was an interesting story as I really liked the historical aspect of it. I was fascinated by the history and I learned so much about The Great Level and water engineering.
Many thanks to Atria Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Much of the book was enjoyable, but it was a slow paced novel. It is not long, but it took a long while to read it. The writing is good, the story is mainly interesting, but there is lingering. I wavered during the relationship parts, and that seemed to take over the entirety of the novel, yet not quite. There is a bit more.

Most of the book was told as Jan Brunt's view point, as writing a diary. The you he was writing to was his love, Eliza. It was an odd choice for the author, Tillyard, to only give the reader Eliza’s point of view towards the later part of the book. Then we return to Jan’s briefly once more, and it is odd that this back and forth wasn’t for the entire book. After completing the book entirely you can understand more of each character, yet part of me desires that the entire book was just one point of view. In any case, the choice didn’t ruin the book at all, just a little different with the structure. Also, I didn’t feel the voice of Eliza’s writing was much different from Jan’s, it is only the author telling us this is which character.

I did enjoy the historical aspect of the book, the turning of the city from the Dutch to British with New Amsterdam becoming New York. Even saw a different side to Virginia.

Book rating: 3.5 stars

The first time I noticed swamps as a setting was the Disney miniseries The Swamp Fox based on the life of real 18th century American revolutionary Francis Marion which I watched with fascination when I was a child.


As an adult, some of my friends were nature lovers and environmentalists who were aware of the need to preserve wetlands as a vital habitat for a variety of species. They took me to visit local wetlands and encouraged me to support the cause of saving the swamps.


Fast forward to 2018 when Where The Crawdads Sing by first time novelist Delia Owens became a mega-bestseller. Nearly everyone I knew on Goodreads loved the unexpected tale of the despised and abandoned Marsh Girl, Kya. I am a colossal avoider of widely hyped books, but I loved Kya too.


More recently, I came across a Smithsonian article called Deep in the Swamps, Archaeologists are Finding How Fugitive Slaves Kept Their Freedom. I arrived at the realization that rebels, runaway slaves and marginalized people had been living in the swamps for centuries, but I thought this was a prototypical American story.


I had jumped to a conclusion too quickly. It was an English story too. That's what I found out through Call Upon The Water by Stella Tillyard which was offered to me in advance of publication for review by the publisher through Net Galley. I seized upon it as an amazing example of serendipity.


In England, the marshes were called fens. There was an 11th century English revolutionary associated with the fens known as Hereward the Wake. He is said to have led opposition to the Norman Conquest from the fens. Eventually, in pursuit of more arable land ,English property owners sought assistance in draining their fens.


It occurred to me while reading this book that claiming ownership of the fens and draining them is a continuation of the centuries long trend to diminish the commons. The commons were lands that weren't privately owned. Anyone could access them. The poor could survive by gathering edible plants, hunting and fishing in the commons. Without the commons, the poor were completely dependent on the benevolence of landowners and employers. The people who inhabited the fens could no longer make an independent livelihood from the fens once they were drained. The fens would become farmland, and their crops would be harvested for the benefit of the landowners.


Draining wetlands had been central to the history of the Netherlands. For the Dutch, this was an essential nation building process. I found a podcast and article about this swamp draining history from Amsterdam Radio. It's no wonder that when England sought to drain the fens in the 17th century, they called upon Dutch experts.


Call Upon The Water primarily deals with the experiences of one of these Dutch swamp draining experts. Fictional character Jan Brunt arrived in England in 1649 to assist in draining the Great Level. He meets Eliza, a local fenwoman. He is impressed by her intelligence and her interest in his work. He feels compassion for Eliza and comes to love her. Yet he really hasn't got a clue about what motivates her. The trouble is that the reader doesn't really understand her either.


This is because of the author's choice to limit Eliza's perspective as a narrator to the final chapters. If this were a mystery like Where The Crawdads Sing, I would applaud Tilyard for enhancing suspense by causing us to continually wonder about Eliza. I feel that Call Upon The Water is literary fiction, and that the lengthy absence of Eliza's perspective lessens the power of the novel. It also occurred to me that some readers might think that the author is telling us that Jan Brunt's perspective is the most important one. He does seem to be the most fully realized character. He grows over the course of the narrative. His orientation toward his work and his feelings about wetlands change over his lifetime. I wanted to have the same insight into Eliza's thought processes to perceive her entire character arc. I wanted to know more about who she really was. Instead Eliza tells us that she had no story until her viewpoint narrative began. I found this frustrating and disappointing.


The Eliza we see in her viewpoint narrative is very pragmatic. She knows what she wants and how to accomplish it. She seems to have very little ambivalence, if any, about her choices. She lacks vulnerability. I find her understandable and worthy of respect, but not always sympathetic. Brunt did have regrets about his choices. So for me he is much more sympathetic.


Aside from my problem with Eliza's characterization, I thought Call Upon The Water was an insightful historical novel that caused me to reflect on a variety of issues. I also never thought I could end up admiring a character like Jan Brunt when I identify so strongly with outsiders like Delia Owens' character Kya. That's an achievement as far as I'm concerned. So bravo to Stella Tillyard.

Call Upon the Water by Stella Tillyard is a historical novel that takes place in the Netherlands, Great Britain and the American colony of Virginia in the mid-1600s. Jan Brunt is an engineer talented in mapmaking and his skills are prized.

He is hired to drain and develop wetlands in the Great Level in Great Britain while doing so he meets Eliza, a woman who he immediately falls in love with. They spend a lot of time together and she learns how to read from him and how to read the maps. She betrays him and is punished and sent off to be an indentured servant in Virginia, a chapter or two devoted to this time in her life I found refreshing. Jan goes to America unbeknownst to him that she is there. He is hired to drain the swamp if you will in Dutch American colony of New Netherland, New York today.

One day a boy delivers a message that Eliza wants to meet with him, she is a free woman by this time and wealthy. He mulls this over for a long time. Want to learn more, then you have to get the book.

What I liked about the book, I enjoyed learning about what Jan's trade was, the era, as I love historical fiction and just the geographical areas in the story. What I didn't like was that it was very wordy and not a lot of dialogue. To me, that can put a person to sleep very easily. Guess I have not read a lot of books written this way. Not to say that it was not informative, just that I got bored frequently. I persevered and did find that I did

Call Upon the Water

The call is a long one – the voices of Eliza and Jan, fly with the relentlessness of requited but deferred love over water and around the world. From England to New Amsterdam it followed them, and peacefully settled on Manatus Eylandt.

I learned much reading this tale: about the Great Level, fens, fen people, engineering water - draining wet lands. Knowledge had long before now, all with its goal to create arable, ownable, sellable land. Again, I am tossed, incredulous, up against the wall of my own ignorance. To tackle the education of a reader such as me, who needs to understand the work at hand in order to have a real sense of Jan Brunt (aka John Brown), the author does a grand job of describing the place and the people of the fen lands, The Great Level. Yes! A-googling I did go. The names on the maps are still there, the Roman roads still referenced. It is there that the lovers find each other and enjoy limb upon limb, the sunshine, reeds and no social media.

Of course, the fens are drained and that changes everything, including continents, and the story lays out parallel lives, so close, so near. . . . Oh, how I enjoyed the use of first, second and third person to help the reader understand who is narrator in the various sections. I especially loved the second person usage. . .it felt very real to me, as I often use it in my own head when speaking to those I love, all those things I can’t say for all the reasons I can’t say them. Using the Dutch and English references helps as well. I must admit I whimpered a little at the end. I get it though. Not every bow is tied.

I highly recommend this book. 4 stars from me.

A Sincere Thanks to Stella Tillyard, Atria Books and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review.

The description of this book grabbed my attention and I had high hopes for the story. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I was unable to finish this book, I have a very hard time quitting a book while reading, but I got to 35% on my Kindle and if someone would have asked me why this book was interesting. I could not give them a good answer. I had listened to Jan tell of his life, his talents for mapping out rural areas and the hard life of the local folk. I kept waiting for the story to pick up and it just didn’t. I apologize if the book takes a remarkable turn after I finally gave up and becomes a wonderful story.
This one rambles and rambles. I didn’t fine the writing poetic or beautiful and the mundane character development of Jan was overdone.
I appreciate to have been given the opportunity to receive this book from Atria Books through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. This one gets 2 stars.

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this one. The writing was just a tad too flowerly and descriptive for my tastes. I wouldn't say that there was anything wrong with it it just wasn't the right book for me. Readers who enjoy detailed, historical epics would probably gravitate towards this one!

This book focuses on a man who is first a master engineer and a mapmaker. He is a Dutchman called Jan Brunt , The year is 1664. He has taken a position in England to build an embankment, then relocates from the Netherlands to Great Britain to colonial America finding success in the New World. There is a certain quietness in the way this book was written, a bit slow in the telling but easy and enjoyable. The research was excellent as Ms. Tillyard shared the history of that era. My thanks to NetGalley and Atria for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Call Upon The Water carries the reader back to the 17th Century of England and America. Jan Brunt is an engineer and a mapmaker. He arrives in England in 1649, the year Charles I was beheaded and The Rump Parliament governs England. His job is to work on the Great Level, to drain and develop wetlands north of Ely.

Tillyard does a wonderful job of detailing the time and place. You get an immediate sense of the unease surrounding the country. In fact, her strength lies in conveying the history of the times, from the beheading to the Irish Wars to the English assumption of Nieuw Amsterdam (New York).

Jan is an interesting character. He is the typical engineer, a left brain sort of person. But he is also awed by nature and history and what he sees in the wilderness.

Once Jan meets Eliza, the writing begins to alternate. Whenever he’s thinking of Eliza, the narrative is second person. Otherwise, the story is told in first person. I can’t say I cared for the alternating methods and would have preferred it remained all told in first person so as to be less distracting.

This is not a book that is going to keep you turning pages or staying awake to read one more chapter. It’s a little lackluster. But there was enough new ( to me) history to keep me interested.

I would recommend this to those who are fans of historical fiction and looking for new subject matters.

My thanks to netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

Call Upon the Water was an okay read from me. I do not think it was for me. I am giving it two and a half stars.

I would have preferred to give 3.5 stars.
This is a story filled with beautiful words and lyrical prose, but some reason I never felt myself to be engaged with the characters ...or with the plot. I wanted to be, but just never quite made it.

I have just finished the book...and need to think some more about it. I will come back and add to my review ...

Set during the fall and rise of King Charles II of England, this story does not bring court intrigues, what it offers instead is an intense depiction of lives of simple people and those with education who used their knowledge to make a mark in history by draining and developing wetlands for human use. And a deeply moving portrayal of a man exploring the power of nature and the power of love.

1649, Jan Brunt, an engineer, arrives in Great Britain from the Netherlands to work on draining and developing wetlands known as Great Level. His work begins with mapping the area, then planning how to drain the whole. This brings original descriptions.

With another Dutchman leader, they “measure and draw, calculate and note (…) They are the first engineers to map this whole wilderness, and take pride in that fact, as if they were explorers out on the ocean.”

One day, as Jan is engrossed in his work of calculations, a native woman approaches him. Her name is Eliza. When Jan relates his own story, he talks about Eliza in the second person narrative. “As the weeks pass you tell me something of your people and how you live together on islands in the meres.” This creates brilliant prose.

His relationship with Eliza and her telling him how her people claim the land from the waters, make him realize that man was not created “to be the lords of creation, but a part of it.”

The project is so vast and ambitious that it requires not hundreds but thousands men to complete the project. Where shall they find them? General Cromwell offers a solution. He will send prisoners from his wars in Ireland.

After a sabotage of his work, he feels the need to change a place and takes the first opportunity that comes his way and travels to the new colonies in America. He travels freely to New Amsterdam. She is taken as a prisoner to the Colony of Virginia. But what unravels is another beautiful story of her opportunity.

In New Amsterdam, 1664, he records his story and witnesses Charles’ conquest of New Amsterdam, renaming it to New York in honor of his brother James, Duke of York.

With original descriptions and beautiful prose, the author brings a masterful story of a man’s quest to control the nature and to be reunited with the love of his life during a time of colonial conquests.

Usually, I prefer stand-alone books, but the way this book ends, I so hope for a follow-up to this richly imagined story.