Destination: 19th century Creede and Cripple Creek, Colorado

Book: Contact Creede! A Novel of Old Colorado (NEW 2011) by Barbara Marriott

Contact Creede! is a fun romp with an endearing heroine that travels to two Western mining towns in the early 1800′s . Both towns, Creede and Cripple Creek shriveled after the silver and gold mining booms, but survive as tourist attractions in a beautiful location in Colorado.

In this old west adventure melodrama, “Leo”–short for Leonarda Worthington) leaves staid society of Boston when her grandmother dies and she needs to find the father who deserted her in her childhood. Her quest puts her in peril from the moment she steps off the train, and as a young woman from a protected background, it takes her some time to figure out who she can trust and who she can’t.

Along the way Leo becomes a reporter, asserts her feminist leanings,  learns  from Jack Dempsey how to throw a punch and befriends the town newsboy, Lowell Thomas, and con man Soapy Smith. The real characters that show up in Contact Creede! add veracity, and Barbara Marriott‘s descriptions of the old mining towns take us right back to that rough and rowdy time.

Barbara Marriott

Marriott, who has written several history non-fiction books, does a good job for a first novel, but a few kinks might annoy the reader.  After starting Leo’s story with a bang in Creede, and piling on the danger and difficulty, the book suddenly swerves at the beginning of part two and talks about historic incidents like a boxing match which Cripple Creek residents “watch” by reading posted printouts of commentary. For a few chapters, Leo’s quest nearly disappears from view. I felt like someone had pulled back on the reins of an exciting runaway stagecoach ride. Maybe the research calls for a whole new book about the boxing game in the old west.

Despite all the excitement that pulled me through part one, I was disappointed when the conclusion happened  suddenly and without any action required on the part of the hero and heroine. Rather than the detective work of Leo and her Pinkerton boyfriend revealing the bad guy, the bad guy reveals himself in one desperate and not entirely believable act.

Ever the historian, Marriott not only weaves in real events and people, but also by includes historic photographs of the two towns and some of the characters.

For planning a trip to Colorado, here’s a Virtual Visitor’s Guide (pdf) to Cripple Creek, probably one of the better known mining towns in Colorado. Not only because it stands  near Pike’s Peak, and many ride the Cripple Creek railroad each summer, but the whole town of Cripple Creek has been designated a Historic Site.

Isolated Creede, the only town in its county, offers historic interest but even more spectacular scenery and adventures like hiking, fly fishing and river rafting.

I must say that reading this book inspired me to start travel planning for an adventure in Colorado where I can explore more of those back roads and old mining towns. And I’m kind of hoping that Leo will show up in more historic novels.

Disclaimer: I know Barbara Marriott personally, and she supplied this book for review. She also gave me a book cover photo and her own author photo, but the other images came from Flickr with Creative Commons License. Click on the photos to learn more. The book title is linked to Amazon for your convenience. If you click through to Amazon and purchase anything at all, I get a few cents which helps support A Traveler’s Library. Thanks.

What’s your favorite old West destination? (Sorry, Tombstone doesn’t count. Just too obvious.)

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The Dutch House, New Castle, Delaware (early 1700's)

Destination: Colonial Delaware

Book: Flesh and Grass by Libby Cone (Self published via Smashwords and available on all forms of electronic media)

I read Libby Cone‘s first historic novel, War on the Margins, about the German occupation of British Channel islands and enjoyed it very much. In the newer book, she’s writing  on her own without a graduate committee looking over her shoulder, and apparently without a caring editor. Too bad, because I am fascinated by the Dutch history on the East Coast of America, and loved visiting the old town of New Castle Delaware on a road trip to the Brandywine Valley. This book left me wishing I had not even started it, but it did stir up memories of a  trip to historic America.

In brief, Flesh and Grass tells the story of a colony of Mennonites, sponsored by the Dutch West Indies Company, come to America for religious freedom in 1662.  Their small, hard-working colony is abandoned by the Company, whose officers are much more interested in the sugar and slave trade of the Caribbean. Then the community becomes a pawn in Holland’s wars with England and France. Their community is burned out over and over again, attacked by pirates who steal their goods, and they dwindle in numbers. The narrator finally moves inland to Pennsylvania in 1693 after Zwaanendael (Dutch) becomes Lewes (English).

Although or maybe because it is thoroughly researched, the story sinks under the daily drudgery of life in this ill-fated colony.  I disagree with several of the writer’s choices.

• First, she tells the story journal style in the voice of a blind man, thus sacrificing physical descriptions except when he asks people to describe things to him. All tell and no show.
• Second, she uses the Dutch spelling, forms of address, and a stilted speech throughout the entire book. More skilled writers introduce that type of speech, but then lay it aside so that readers do not have to hack their way through a jungle of unfamiliar usages.
• Third, she recounts life in the colony incident by incident, with no overarching narrative curve. Instead of plot, we get plod.  Although exciting and interesting things happen to the people here, the prose presents them all in the same tone–no build-up, no suspense.

It pains me to write such a negative review because I think that Libby Cone could do better. I KNOW she could do better because I read her other book, and the reader will be better served to read War on the Margins.

But don’t lose interest in this very interesting part of American history, and if you have a chance, definitely visit the historic gems of  New Castle  and  Lewes, Delaware which was the main site of Flesh and Grass. Lewes, calls itself “the first town in the first state.” (Delaware was the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.) First called Zwaanendael by the Dutch, Cone uses that name and Hoornkill interchangeably. But the Lewes museum site says the proper name was Whore Kill–Harlot’s Creek.  The Museum site also says the town was founded in 1631, while this book apparently starts with the founders sailing from Amsterdam in 1662.

New Castle Armory and cobblestone Street

We did not get to Lewes, farther South, but we did visit New Castle, an easy detour from a Brandywine Valley road trip.  The Old Armory pictured above housed a restaurant, where we enjoyed a nice lunch in a building that felt like an authentic old tavern of the 1800′s. According to their Facebook page, it is now closed. Too bad, I loved the solid building with colonial columns in front, surrounded by a park-like swath of grass and fronting on that very bumpy street.  The streets throughout the center of town are the rough cobblestone you see in that picture. (You can still eat at historic Jessop’s Tavern on the main shopping street.)

Walk through the business district, and everything looks preserved from colonial days, with the exception of “The oldest house in Delaware”, The  Dutch House, maintained by the New Castle Historic Society.

Entrance to The Dutch House 

As he sometimes does when we travel, Ken took a break and sat on a shaded bench in Battery park, looking out on the Bay while I went through the  Read House and Gardens (1801), home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Read House parlor, New Castle Delaware

We both visited the Dutch House (pictured at top of page), which has gone through many upgrades over the years, and was once much rougher, probably with a thatched roof in its original early 18th century version. The Historic Society, with financing from a member of the ubiquitous Delaware du Pont family, has recreated the interior as it would have been in the early 1700′s with odd tools and kitchen utensils.

Besides Battery park, which stretches for many blocks along the water, the townspeople can gather in the original town square for relaxation.  We found the whole town relaxing–after walking these streets for a while, you might be surprised when the ring of a cell phone or hum of a car motor jars you back to the present. But how interesting to think of those earnest settlers who came here from Holland, asking only to be able to support themselves and worship as they wished.

These photos are all the property of Vera Marie Badertscher. If that one of the Armory looks a bit like a car ad, it accompanied an article I wrote for Automotive Traveler  , an on-line magazine, about our road trip in a Chevy HHR loaned to us by General Motors. We liked the loaner car so much that when we got home, we bought one for ourselves.

The book title is linked to Amazon for your convenience. If you click through to Amazon and purchase anything at all, I get a few cents which helps support A Traveler’s Library. Thanks.

What’s your favorite historic America site? Have you visited the historic towns of Delaware? I would like to know more about Lewes, if you have been there.

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Destination: France, the Aquitaine

Book: Eleanor the Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine by Norah Lofts

Perhaps it is time for a revival of Katherine AND Eleanor.

If I could pick one historic character that I would like to be–it would be Eleanor of Aquitaine. Well, okay, maybe I’m mixing her up with Katherine Hepburn who wowed me in the movie, The Lion in Winter. What a cast, and what a joy that movie is.

Have I been romanticizing Eleanor because of Katherine? I figured I could find something closer to the true Eleanor in Norah Lofts’ novel,[amazonify]143914611::text:::: Eleanor the Queen.[/amazonify] Lofts wrote many historic novels back in the mid twentieth century, and when I talked here about The Lute Player, about Eleanor’s son Richard the Lionheart, I expressed disappointment that Eleanor did not play a larger role. So I was delighted when I was offered a review copy of a new re-issue of Eleanor the Queen.

Lofts wrote carefully researched books that, although not true travel books, certainly can help the traveler understand the history of France and England and other countries they touch on. Unfortunately, when I am in France, I will not be visiting what was Eleanor’s holdings in southwestern France.

But then, the Queen didn’t visit it much either. She was too busy going on Crusades (!), having 10 children (!), getting involved in power struggles between France and England, first with her much-younger husband, Henry, and then against him in favor of her darling son, Richard the Lion Heart. Oh, yes, she also spent 15 years imprisoned at Windsor Castle, in Henry’s rather futile attempt to keep her out of his hair.

I would like to visit her tomb, and Henry’s, Richard’s, at the Fontevraud Abbey in southern France, but I fear we are not going in that direction. What was left of her bones (and the others as well) were scattered when the Abbey was desecrated during the revolution. Ah, well it somehow seems fitting that this restless, traveling queen’s bones should be scattered.

Rouen Cathedral

I do plan to visit the cathedral in Rouen, where Richard’s heart remains. In good medieval fashion, they divided him up when he died, which means I can visit at least a part of him.

As to Lofts book, I found it delightful.  I liked it much better than The Lute Player, and not just because Eleanor takes center stage. She was a truly amazing woman, and no matter how much detail a novelist has to make up–minor things like dialogue, supporting characters and descriptions of clothing– the facts that made her so amazing remain absolutely true.

Lofts not only brings the famous historical characters to life, but she also creates entertaining serving women, common soldiers, and all the other teeming life around the dreary and cold palaces. Once again I am reminded that being Queen in the Middle Ages was not the cushy job it is now.

If you like history, and want to understand the beginnings of England and their relationship with France, be sure and read Eleanor the Queen by Norah Lofts.

Do you like to read historical novels of the place you travel to? What are some of your favorites?

Besides The Lute Player, you can read about the following historical novels here at A Traveler’s Library. Mistress to the Sun, The Last Aloha, and The Calligrapher’s Daughter. 

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Masha Hamilton

Destination: Jordan

Book: Staircase of A Thousand Steps by Masha Hamilton

I am looking in my travel library for books to share with you that I have read that made me yearn to travel. Not travel literature by strict definition, but sometimes historical novels bring a traditional culture so vividly to life that I want to visit the country today and see how those traditions influence the present.

Masha Hamilton was working on this novel, her first, when we briefly belonged to the same Tucson writer’s group, exchanging drafts and the frustrations of attempting to clearly express something that seemed vivid in the mind, but resisted being put on paper.

Masha is a world traveler and has developed into a respected writer, and if some day she decides to put her own life on paper, I will avidly read about her experience as a journalist in the Mideast and in Russia. Meanwhile, I will enjoy her novels, informed by her lengthy visits to foreign places, and her finely honed powers of observation.

[amazonify]0425185303::text::::Staircase of a Thousand Steps[/amazonify] tells the story of the people of a village in Trans Jordan before the 1967 war with Israel. We meet Harif who tells stories and is distrusted by the villagers and Harif’s granddaughter, Jammana, a modern American  girl who learns deep meanings from age-old traditions.

Faridah the midwife stands for a break with tradition and the rights of women. As they struggle with old enmities within their village, and more lethal ones within the larger Mediterranean, we also see a people working their way into a modern world that doesn’t quite fit.

We learn from the sharply observant Masha Hamilton, how their homes look, what they eat, how they speak to each other. And the story teller weaves their stories in poetic prose.

It is a book to inspire the urge to seek out new cultures. It is a book to read again and again. Although when I visited Israel, I crossed the Allenby bridge briefly into Jordan, I have yet to visit the part of Jordan and Leabanon and Syria that I would love to see in person. Meanwhile, I’ll hang on to this book to fuel my travel dreams.

Masha Hamilton has written three other books since Staircase of a Thousand Steps.

• The Distance Between Us, (2004) Unbridled Books, Another novel set in the Mideast.
• The Camel Bookmobile, (2007) Harper Collins, about a bookmobile in Africa.

And her latest, officially released in September 2009, but already available on Amazon, 31 Hours. The new novel departs from the tone of earlier books as it tells the terrifying tale of a young man who is headed toward an act of terror. You can read more about the writing of the book at Masha Hamilton’s 31 Hours site. There is an interesting contest there to win copies of the book.

Now it is your turn. Do you have favorite books that inspires travel to places that you have not managed to travel to yet?  Have you discovered writer Masha Hamilton? Join the conversation.

See more articles about books that inspire travel to the Middle East: Jerusalem, Iraq, Iran.

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The Last Aloha cover, a painting by Princess Ka'iulani

Destination: Hawaii

Book: The Last Aloha by Gaellen Quinn

Not everyone intends to party at the celebration of Hawaii’s 50th Birthday of Statehood today. Hawaiian history carries a sting that most travelers will not be aware of.  Despite the fact that I have visited Hawaii, I certainly had only the vaguest idea of the history of statehood until I read [amazonify]1935448005::text:::: The Last Aloha[/amazonify] by Gaellen Quinn.

This meticulously researched historical novel presents the inside story via a fictional lead character, Laura Jennings, who lands in a third-generation Hawaiian missionary family after losing her father and fiancé in a carriage accident in San Francisco. She learns that these late nineteenth century families have grown wealthy in mercantile and government roles in this last generation.

Laura’s travel to Hawaii as a naive young woman gives the author plenty of opportunity for exposition as people explain the ins and outs of culture and politics in Hawaii. While this book provides education, the presentation of facts sometimes leads to awkward overloading of conversations so they are not as natural as one would hope.

Besides conveniently serving as a nanny in her Uncle’s home, he a lecherous in-law who is deeply involved in the politics of protection of American businessmen on Hawaii, Laura also becomes a nanny and close friend of Princess Ka’iulani, and later secretary to Queen Lili’uokalni, the princess’ aunt. The positions, of course, make her privy to all that is happening behind the scenes as the great powers struggle over Hawaii, and the native people get trampled by the financial power of the descendants of the first missionaries.

Appealing scenes from the islands, full of heavily scented flowers and the relaxed and mystical life of the native Hawaiians no doubt will entice the reader to visit Hawaii. However, I am betting that the book will be super controversial in Hawaii itself.

The story of how Hawaii became a state, despite its great distance from the mainland of the United States, makes me cringe, and I am not the only one. Movie producers had hoped to capitalize on the anniversary of statehood with a film about Ka’iulani, the Last Princess of Hawaii, who is an important character in this book.  But the subject has inflamed the native Hawaiians and the producers have pushed back the release date several times, even though the director changed the name from Barbarian Princess. Gee, wonder why that would upset anyone?

Quinn has worked hard to cover the period honestly, and to weave real life characters in with fictional ones. It is a big job for a first time novelist, and the strain shows in some awkwardness.   While I enjoyed learning the historical background, the scaffolding shows a bit to much for this to be an seamlessly smooth literary experience of the kind you get with an E. L. Doctorow novel.

Despite my reservations, I am glad that the publicist sent me this book so that I could fill in some blanks left by reading James Michener‘s Hawaii.

If you are moved to visit Hawaii and look into the history in person, you can also (perhaps) commune with the spirit of the Princess on the site of her estate, which has been replaced by the high-rise Sheraton Princess Kaiulani.

P. S. I would be remiss not to mention that in 2008, The Last Aloha was a Texas manuscript winner in historical fiction in the Texas Writers’ League contest and was a semi-finalist in the Amazon.com/Penguin Books Novel Contest.

Now it is your turn…would you like to know more about Hawaii history, or are you inclined to say, “Leave me alone with my Mai Tai on the beach?”

More articles about islands: Unsworth on a Greek Island Hot Days, Thinking of Islands, Caribbean Islands Blasket Islands, Ireland ,Novels Set on a Greek Island

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Book: Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth

I have recently read two books by Barry Unsworth that touch on the period immediately before World War I. One of them directly deals with the part of Mesopotamia that became Iraq, and I will talk about that one first. Tomorrow I’ll talk about the other book, which takes place on a Greek island.

What Kind of Book?

[amazonify]0385520077::text::::Land of Marvels,[/amazonify] by the Booker Prize winner (for an earlier book), Barry Unsworth, arrived on shelves in 2009 and was trumpeted by some as a thriller, some as an historic novel. Some reviews criticized it for trying to cram too much–long lectures on archaeology and geology as well as the pre-World War I history of Mesopotamia, into a book of fewer than 300 pages. A jacket blurb praises it as lean. In scanning reviews, I got the distinct impression that few knew quite what to make of it.

I usually do not read reviews before I write my opinions here, but this time I was confused. Looking forward to a thriller, I became restless when the plot was not afoot until page 96 or so and the real action started barely 70 pages before the end of the book. Even for an historical novel, this is an exceedingly leisurely pace.

The Story

I am a fan of history and of archaeology and might have enjoyed the historical setting if the information had seemed more like part of the novel rather than periodic intrusions of needed information.

The Characters

Unfortunately, most of the characters sound and look like stereotypes and despite the fact that the book, according to the author, is about the evils of imperialism, we only meet the oppressors–never the victims. Only servants and a wily seller of information represent the native people of Mesopotamia.

Unsworth tells an intricate tale where no one can quite be believed.

• The archaeologist wants to protect his dig and make his name;
• the geologist wants to verify fields of oil and sell the information to several parties;
• the Germans are laying a railroad;
• the Turks and British are laying plots against each other.

The archaeologist’s wife comes across as a pathetic, malleable creature who will follow a big, strong man anywhere he leads her with a story. The other archaeologist’s girlfriend is allegedly a feminist, but one suspects that is only so she can jump in with an occasional “manly” observation that could not conveniently come out of the mouths of other characters.

The generalized duplicity is underlined by the parallel use of people who tell stories to achieve their goals. Not just lies–but stories. The geologist, the wily spy, even the archaeologist trying to make sense of what he finds. With all these unreliable story-tellers, the reader begins to wonder if the author’s story is to be trusted.

My Conclusion

I cannot recommend Land of Marvels, even as a picture of Mesopotamia/Iraq. It seems Unsworth  set out to make a point rather than a novel. All in all, Ozymandias makes the point more succinctly and with more grace.

Ozymandias by Percy Bysse Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Reader: Stay tuned tomorrow for another Unsworth book that gives an entirely different experience. I would like to know, however, if you read this book and have a different opinion.

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