I’m a sucker for books that involve a fictionalized George Washington, and though here Washington is only tangentially mentioned, his promissory note does provide a jumping off point for protagonist Hank’s emigration from the Netherlands to the United States.

The plot is, in its bones, fairly standard for immigration tales from this era, but the author’s lovely prose elevates a common theme.

The story is slow in parts, and not in a good way, though this may be a preference issue as the trials and tribulations of homesteading and the early American West aren’t my favorite topics.

I prefer immigrant tales from this era that take place in eastern cities, but if you prefer a more rural setting, this is certainly well written and worth a read.

the cover is what drew me in and I'm glad I did, the story itself was well done and the characters were great. It was a beautifully done story about grief and the author did it in a real way.

I received a temporary digital advanced copy of The Dutchman by Wanda DeHaven Pyle from NetGalley and the author in exchange for an honest review.

With a old promissory note from George Washington promising to repay the Van Pelt family $450,000, Harke De Jong leaves his homeland in search of a better life in America. His goal is to start his own homestead in the west, but the American dream of getting rich quick, the anger and guilt that sent him from his homeland, and a disillusioned member of the Van Pelt family follows him, and almost destroys his future.

DeHaven begins the novel with an author's note that her family provided Washington monetary aid between 1777--1778, the winter at Valley Forge, and never received repayment by the government due to lack of records. As a historian, I found this fascinating and was extremely intrigued as to where DeHaven would take her family's history.

The Dutchman was an extremely fast read due to the novels' pacing and De Jong's constant movement; there did not seem to be much downtime. I found the more modern characters, especially Catherine, to be refreshing. I found the initial reaction of the Van Pelt family to be odd; however, I understood why the author chose to do that. Overall, an easy and interesting read.

Our hero feels guilty for the death of his lover and their unborn child not to mention being bullied and harried by religious fervents in his Dutch homeland of the mid 1860s, He runs away to America with some old letters promising great wealth and luxury. His journey to New York is perilous; once there his newly found friend is robbed, our hero parts with all of his money to help said friend and continues his journey. All along he is wronged, does the silly things, acts naively and generally is a pain in the backside. His guilt overarches everything. He loses more or less everything he gains, continues to feel guilty and on and on. What is the redeeming part of this book is the story of greed but innovation during the development of the railways and their thrust westward. It's described as a "heartfelt and moving account" - at one level yes, but another, it's just depressing. Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Harke de Jong leaves Holland in 1868 to seek his fortune as a homesteader in Wisconsin. He is escaping guilt and religious intolerance with just a packet of old papers that may be worth a fortune. Arriving in New York Harke's name is changed to Hank and he tries to realise his dream despite many setbacks. However when his lover is kidnapped Hank has to confront enemies from home as well as more recent ones.
This is a very easy read and that is no bad thing because the plot skips along in a formulaic but entertaining way. There is obviously a lot of research that has gone into the economics of railroad speculation in the 1870s and a fair bit of understanding of the problems faced by immigrants.