Dark Enough to See the Stars in a Jamestown Sky
Is there a soul in Virginia who is not aware that the four  hundredth anniversary of the founding of the colony, and thus the state,  will take place in 2007? We all have been gearing up for the celebration to  one degree or another. Connie Lapallo is one Virginian who has done much  more than displaying a license plate.Mrs. Lapallo is a descendent of one of the very few colonists who survived  the "starving time" which almost annihilated the colony in 1610. With this  personal interest in the early history of Virginia she has written a  well-researched novel in which her ancestor, Joan Phippen Peirce, Joan's  five-year-old daughter, Jane, and their friend Temperance Yeardley, are the  central characters. Dark Enough to See the Stars in a Jamestown Sky is  "based on the true story of the women and children at Jamestown" in the  years 1609 and 1610. Also populating the tale are the well-known and  lesser-known leaders of the colony, their Native American antagonists, and  a few fictitious characters representing generically the soldiers, mariners  and colonists whose names are lost to history. Chief among these are Maggie  Deale and Elizabeth Mayhew who "are fictitious but represent all those  women whose names and stories are lost to time."Macro-history is often written by men; micro-history is always lived by  women. While kings and captains issued orders, some wise, many foolish, and  "made history" a few women of the colony survived despite the blunders.  This story of the colony is told through the first person narrative of Joan  and so it told through a woman's perspective with a woman's sensibilities,  and a feminine attention to detail.As a girl, Joan was taught by her mother the use and value of herbs, a  knowledge that stands her in good stead during the long sea voyage (with  its week-long wild hurricane), as well as during the ravages of the  "starving time." Her determination to survive is born of her love for her  daughter, empowered by her knowledge of things botanical, strengthened by  her sisterly solidarity with her three friends and most fundamentally,  anchored to her faith in Divine Providence. To her the acorns falling from  the oaks were truly manna from above to be gathered, horded, ground and  made into cakes when the common supply of food was exhausted. The frozen  chickadee which fell at her doorstep was as welcome as the plumpest goose  would have been. Yet not all the saving food fell from above. The women  grubbed for edible roots and tubers with frozen and cracked hands while  other less resourceful colonists gave in to despair and starvation, some  losing their sanity before losing their lives.This book is a labor of love, in honor of the author's thirteenth and  twelfth great grandmothers. As such it adds a granddaughter's tenderness to  the narrative. But it has the rigorousness of history, well documented in  several appendices. Original documents are quoted and brief biographies of  the historical figures are included.Dark Enough to See the Stars in a Jamestown Sky: Based on the True Story of  the Women and Children at Jamestown by Connie Lapallo deserves an honored  place in Virginia's grand four hundredth birthday celebration.  ---  Reviewed by Gerald Brunning, Catholic Home-schoolers Bookshelf. --Catholic Home-Schoolers BookshelfNarratives about the women living in Jamestown are rare. Joan  Phippen Peirce, an ancestor of the author, came to America in 1609, and  short, diarylike chapters tell her story. While Plymouth Colony's religious  roots are often contrasted with Jamestown's economically based conception,  this title acknowledges the important religious convictions held by many of  the Jamestown colonists.  - Reviewed by Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst,  St.  Christopher's School, Richmond, VA.  Copyright © Reed Business  Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --School Library JournalOccasionally, I read a book that makes me want to e-mail all my  friends and say, "You've got to read this book!" It's not quite as often  that I encounter a book that makes me want to buttonhole complete  strangers, saying "You have to read this book!"Connie Lapallo's debut novel is the second kind of book. I was riveted from  the first chapter by the fascinating story of Joan Peirce, Lapallo's 13th  great grandmother, one of the few women in early Jamestown who survived the  Starving Time. Most of the characters, events, and places in the novel are  historically accurate, and Lapallo, a writer and home educator, includes  extensive information in the end notes to help the reader sort the fiction  from the fact.Lapallo's meticulous research reveals a time in history when the lives of  ordinary women were routinely turned upside down by hurricane, plague,  starvation, and other circumstances beyond their control. The character of  Joan is warmly and realistically portrayed, and her joys and sorrows  captured my heart. As I put down the book, I felt as if I'd walked beside  her in the wilderness of primitive Jamestown.The 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown will be celebrated in  2007. Dark Enough to See the Stars would be a wonderful, family-appropriate  book to share in honor of the event. If you plan a trip to Jamestown, I  highly recommend that you read the book first and look through the photos  and resources at Lapallo's website. When you arrive at Jamestown, and walk  through the palisade, explore the ship, and sit in the little church, you  just might feel a sense of deja vu as you look over the land that became  Joan's home. --The Everyday EducatorTruly step back in time and follow the journey of Joan Phippen  Peirce from her home in Dorset to the New World, in the Jamestown  settlement in Virginia. The description of the tempest "huracan" that the  fleet of ships encounters off Bermuda is itself alone worth the read. With  meticulous research and historical accuracy, Richmond author Connie Lapallo  brings her ancestor's story vividly to life, poignantly telling the story  of the survival of the women and children at Jamestown in the harrowing  first years. - Reviewed by Nancy Halstead, Copyright © 2007 Pleasant  Living magazine. All rights reserved. --Pleasant Living Magazine--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.