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Shadowbrook
From the author of the acclaimed novel City of Dreams , the passionate story of Quentin Hale and Nicole Crane, set against the bloody and turbulent backdrop of the French and Indian War.
1754. In a low-lying glen in Ohio Country, where both the French and English claim dominion, the first musket ball fired signals the start of a savage seven-year conflict destined to dismantle France's overreaching empire and pave the way for the American Revolution. In a world on the brink of astonishing change are Quentin Hale, the fearless gentleman-turned-scout, fighting to preserve his beloved family plantation, Shadowbrook; Cormac Shea, the part-Irish, part-Indian woodsman with a foot in both worlds; and the beautiful Nicole Crane, who, struggling to reconcile her love for Hale and her calling to the convent, becomes a pawn in the British quest for territory. Moving between the longhouses of the Iroquois and Shadowbrook's elegant rooms, the frontier's virgin forests and the cobbled streets of Québec, Swerling weaves a tale of passion and intrigue, faith and devotion, courage and betrayal. Peopled with a cast of unforgettable characters and historical figures, including a young George Washington, this richly textured novel vividly captures the conflict that opened the eighteenth century and ignited our nation's quest for independence. A classic in the making, Shadowbrook is a page-turning tale of ambition, war, and the transforming power of both love and duty.
1754. In a low-lying glen in Ohio Country, where both the French and English claim dominion, the first musket ball fired signals the start of a savage seven-year conflict destined to dismantle France's overreaching empire and pave the way for the American Revolution. In a world on the brink of astonishing change are Quentin Hale, the fearless gentleman-turned-scout, fighting to preserve his beloved family plantation, Shadowbrook; Cormac Shea, the part-Irish, part-Indian woodsman with a foot in both worlds; and the beautiful Nicole Crane, who, struggling to reconcile her love for Hale and her calling to the convent, becomes a pawn in the British quest for territory. Moving between the longhouses of the Iroquois and Shadowbrook's elegant rooms, the frontier's virgin forests and the cobbled streets of Québec, Swerling weaves a tale of passion and intrigue, faith and devotion, courage and betrayal. Peopled with a cast of unforgettable characters and historical figures, including a young George Washington, this richly textured novel vividly captures the conflict that opened the eighteenth century and ignited our nation's quest for independence. A classic in the making, Shadowbrook is a page-turning tale of ambition, war, and the transforming power of both love and duty.
512 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2001
44 people are currently reading
2232 people want to read
About the author
Beverly Swerling
23 books250 followersI’m told that a number of critics who have said kind things about my books, have been less kind about the very brief bio on my book jackets. First, don’t blame Simon & Schuster; it’s my fault. Publishers use the data supplied by the author for this kind of thing, and I didn’t supply much. I guess because it seems that almost everything needs a long explanation. Which is probably me being egotistical. What do you care, right? You buy my books to be entertained (and very grateful I am), you don’t give two hoots about me.
But there are those picky critics…
Here then is a somewhat less abbreviated version.
I grew up in the Boston suburb of Revere, and while I won’t tell you when, I will say that it was very different from what it is today. The beach was, as it still is, one of the natural wonders of the state of Massachusetts, but the front was NOT lined with condo high-rises. It was a boardwalk with stands selling fried clams (Massachusetts has the world’s best fried clams – made from the Ipswich soft shells, they remain what I’d choose for my last meal on this earth) and French fries and soft ice cream that we called frozen custard. Plus there were all kinds of gambling games of the sort found at any fairground – pitch ‘til you win, folks! – and a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster and a tunnel of love.
Another feature of Revere back then was that it was almost entirely either Jewish or Italian (my own family is a mixture of both) and because the town had a dog track – Wonderland - and a horse track – Suffolk Downs – there was a lot of what is politely called off-track betting. Which wasn’t legal then, and for all I know still is not. Nonetheless, any number of family members rented rooms to bookies – the chief requirement being that these gentlemen of the turf had to be able to see one or the other of the tote boards with binoculars, (a world without cell phones, remember) and know how much they were liable to pay out, which in turn affected what odds they could offer on the next race.
I went from that upstanding childhood to a small Catholic girls college in the Midwest, then a job in New York as a file clerk to support my writing – all non-fiction at first – until I was able to earn my way as a free lance journalist.
For a time after that I lived in Europe.
Where I got married for a brief and unpleasant period, then came home and wrote more non-fiction. And got married again.
And went back to Europe.
And started writing fiction, and – hallelujah! – selling it.
And came back to New York with my by now long time husband, and began writing City of Dreams…
Which just about catches you up. Except for the bits I’ve left out.
And, oh yes, one other important part of my life and my work: On that so brief bio on the S&S book jacket it mentions that I’m a consultant. Many people have asked me what kind.
Happens that my husband – who has his own website at www.agentresearch.com – runs the world’s number one consultancy for authors looking for new (or sometimes a first) agents. It’s called Agent Research and Evaluation, Inc. and I do some work for some of his clients. I also occasionally mentor new writers – and some who are not so new. What they all have in common is a passion for what they’re writing, so working with them gives me great joy, and most have found it helpful. (Admittedly not all. I set the bar high.) Some of what I have to share about the hows and the whys of this wonderful but very tough business of writing can be found at The Business of Writing page. At other parts of the site you’ll find more about my books, including excerpts from some not yet published work, such as City of Glory, which continues the story of the Turners and the Devreys of City of Dreams. City of Glory will be out in January. We’ve also put up an excerpt from the next book in that series, still little more than a gleam in my eye.
But there are those picky critics…
Here then is a somewhat less abbreviated version.
I grew up in the Boston suburb of Revere, and while I won’t tell you when, I will say that it was very different from what it is today. The beach was, as it still is, one of the natural wonders of the state of Massachusetts, but the front was NOT lined with condo high-rises. It was a boardwalk with stands selling fried clams (Massachusetts has the world’s best fried clams – made from the Ipswich soft shells, they remain what I’d choose for my last meal on this earth) and French fries and soft ice cream that we called frozen custard. Plus there were all kinds of gambling games of the sort found at any fairground – pitch ‘til you win, folks! – and a Ferris wheel and a roller coaster and a tunnel of love.
Another feature of Revere back then was that it was almost entirely either Jewish or Italian (my own family is a mixture of both) and because the town had a dog track – Wonderland - and a horse track – Suffolk Downs – there was a lot of what is politely called off-track betting. Which wasn’t legal then, and for all I know still is not. Nonetheless, any number of family members rented rooms to bookies – the chief requirement being that these gentlemen of the turf had to be able to see one or the other of the tote boards with binoculars, (a world without cell phones, remember) and know how much they were liable to pay out, which in turn affected what odds they could offer on the next race.
I went from that upstanding childhood to a small Catholic girls college in the Midwest, then a job in New York as a file clerk to support my writing – all non-fiction at first – until I was able to earn my way as a free lance journalist.
For a time after that I lived in Europe.
Where I got married for a brief and unpleasant period, then came home and wrote more non-fiction. And got married again.
And went back to Europe.
And started writing fiction, and – hallelujah! – selling it.
And came back to New York with my by now long time husband, and began writing City of Dreams…
Which just about catches you up. Except for the bits I’ve left out.
And, oh yes, one other important part of my life and my work: On that so brief bio on the S&S book jacket it mentions that I’m a consultant. Many people have asked me what kind.
Happens that my husband – who has his own website at www.agentresearch.com – runs the world’s number one consultancy for authors looking for new (or sometimes a first) agents. It’s called Agent Research and Evaluation, Inc. and I do some work for some of his clients. I also occasionally mentor new writers – and some who are not so new. What they all have in common is a passion for what they’re writing, so working with them gives me great joy, and most have found it helpful. (Admittedly not all. I set the bar high.) Some of what I have to share about the hows and the whys of this wonderful but very tough business of writing can be found at The Business of Writing page. At other parts of the site you’ll find more about my books, including excerpts from some not yet published work, such as City of Glory, which continues the story of the Turners and the Devreys of City of Dreams. City of Glory will be out in January. We’ve also put up an excerpt from the next book in that series, still little more than a gleam in my eye.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
February 5, 2010
I don’t review every novel I read, and I especially don’t review novels just to be negative. There’s nothing to be gained in setting out to bash somebody else’s work, not for me, or you, or them. If I do decide to post about a novel that doesn’t work for me, the reason is usually that I see a bigger issue I’d like to address. This time, in talking about Swerling’s Shadowbrook, the issue has to do with historical fiction more generally.
The thing about historical fiction that makes it so challening is quite simple. You’ve got to do a lot of extra work, in terms of research, and then there’s the challenge of shifting your mindset. It’s not easy to write from the POV of a character whose life and times are so very different from your own. So first, that acknowledgement. This novel, which encompasses most of the French and Indian War as its backdrop, was an ambitious undertaking.
I went and read other reviews of Shadowbrook after I had finished it, which were all pretty positive and very complimentary about the quality of the research that went into the work. Which brings me to the other, primary challenge that goes along with historical fiction. Here it is: you can’t lose track of the fact that this is a story you’re telling. First a story, then a history. Repeat after me: First a story, then a history.
A historical novelist who lets him or herself forget this is bound for trouble, and I think Shadowbrook is an example of such a novel.
Swerling tries to cover pretty much all of the French and Indian war, fit in every major character and institution and battle. In order to do that she has to spread her two main characters really thin. She’s got them jumping from Louisiana to Manhattan to Quebec to the Adirondacks with little apparent effort.
The two major characters (Quentin Hale and Cormac Shea) are young men connected to white slave holding society (in one direction) and various Indian tribes (in the other), which positions them to cover many aspects of the war, but not all of them. The third main character, the young woman called Nicole, feels as though she was constructed completely to fill a void in this net Swerling casts over the entire continent. Nicole, half French, half English, is on her way to join a convent in Quebec when she finds herself traveling with Quentin and Cormac. Without Nicole Swerling wouldn’t have a way to bring in French Catholic sensibilities. At the same time Nicole provides a vague, underdone love interest for Quent. He loves her; she loves him but mon Dieu, she’s made a promise to God.
Nicole’s role is to bring various priests, mostly Jesuits, into the picture. Which is important if you’re determined to tell the whole story of the this particular war, because the Catholic church played a major role.
Once Nicole is in Quebec she ends up playing a role in the communication between Montcalm and other major historical characters — something that requires some plot finagling, because she’s cloistered among the very strict Saint Clares. At any rate, that setup keeps her busy while Quent is running from battle to battle, and trying to save his father’s patent, a huge tract of land called Shadowbrook, populated by Quent’s evil elder brother and a lot of slaves, all the better to examine that aspect of the war, of course.
And then there’s the second-string love story, which also feels manufactured primarily so the author could fit in the story of the Acadians being expelled from Canada by the English. Cormac Shea falls in love with a young woman in that community and then, determined to find her when she’s expelled, goes to Louisiana. Let me point out one of the linguistic… infelicities… which bugged me the most: why would Native Americans in Canada be dreaming about alligators? And if they did, how would they know that such creatures were even called alligators? Beyond that observation, I’m not going to address the matter of historical research directly, because some of what I would have to say comes down to a matter of difference in interpretation.
Thus you’ve got characters who are being moved around like puppets to fulfil the author’s need to get the historical facts, as she interprets them, onto the page. The result is a story without a lot of dramatic tension, and certainly without character development. The characters change as historical circumstance dictates. Which is unfortunate, because I think there was a great deal of potential in quite a few of them.
All in all, this novel felt too broad and unfocused to me, diluted to the point where it was hard to maintain interest in the characters at all. And of course, as always: this is my take, alone.
The thing about historical fiction that makes it so challening is quite simple. You’ve got to do a lot of extra work, in terms of research, and then there’s the challenge of shifting your mindset. It’s not easy to write from the POV of a character whose life and times are so very different from your own. So first, that acknowledgement. This novel, which encompasses most of the French and Indian War as its backdrop, was an ambitious undertaking.
I went and read other reviews of Shadowbrook after I had finished it, which were all pretty positive and very complimentary about the quality of the research that went into the work. Which brings me to the other, primary challenge that goes along with historical fiction. Here it is: you can’t lose track of the fact that this is a story you’re telling. First a story, then a history. Repeat after me: First a story, then a history.
A historical novelist who lets him or herself forget this is bound for trouble, and I think Shadowbrook is an example of such a novel.
Swerling tries to cover pretty much all of the French and Indian war, fit in every major character and institution and battle. In order to do that she has to spread her two main characters really thin. She’s got them jumping from Louisiana to Manhattan to Quebec to the Adirondacks with little apparent effort.
The two major characters (Quentin Hale and Cormac Shea) are young men connected to white slave holding society (in one direction) and various Indian tribes (in the other), which positions them to cover many aspects of the war, but not all of them. The third main character, the young woman called Nicole, feels as though she was constructed completely to fill a void in this net Swerling casts over the entire continent. Nicole, half French, half English, is on her way to join a convent in Quebec when she finds herself traveling with Quentin and Cormac. Without Nicole Swerling wouldn’t have a way to bring in French Catholic sensibilities. At the same time Nicole provides a vague, underdone love interest for Quent. He loves her; she loves him but mon Dieu, she’s made a promise to God.
Nicole’s role is to bring various priests, mostly Jesuits, into the picture. Which is important if you’re determined to tell the whole story of the this particular war, because the Catholic church played a major role.
Once Nicole is in Quebec she ends up playing a role in the communication between Montcalm and other major historical characters — something that requires some plot finagling, because she’s cloistered among the very strict Saint Clares. At any rate, that setup keeps her busy while Quent is running from battle to battle, and trying to save his father’s patent, a huge tract of land called Shadowbrook, populated by Quent’s evil elder brother and a lot of slaves, all the better to examine that aspect of the war, of course.
And then there’s the second-string love story, which also feels manufactured primarily so the author could fit in the story of the Acadians being expelled from Canada by the English. Cormac Shea falls in love with a young woman in that community and then, determined to find her when she’s expelled, goes to Louisiana. Let me point out one of the linguistic… infelicities… which bugged me the most: why would Native Americans in Canada be dreaming about alligators? And if they did, how would they know that such creatures were even called alligators? Beyond that observation, I’m not going to address the matter of historical research directly, because some of what I would have to say comes down to a matter of difference in interpretation.
Thus you’ve got characters who are being moved around like puppets to fulfil the author’s need to get the historical facts, as she interprets them, onto the page. The result is a story without a lot of dramatic tension, and certainly without character development. The characters change as historical circumstance dictates. Which is unfortunate, because I think there was a great deal of potential in quite a few of them.
All in all, this novel felt too broad and unfocused to me, diluted to the point where it was hard to maintain interest in the characters at all. And of course, as always: this is my take, alone.
November 5, 2008
I just loved this, couldn't put it down until the end. I, like other reviewers, learned more about this time in American history, the French and Indian Wars, than I ever did in our public shool systems (which really didn't teach us very much history at all). This book has it all, true love, honor, politics, treachery and intrigue, battles and heartbreak.
Like other reviwers, most of the historical fiction I read is about England, Scotland and Wales and I had forgotten how fascinating all history is, even our own. Along with that, we had the tale of two men, Quent and Cormac who had the to wear the difficult roles of life between two different civilizations, the white man and the red.
Like other reviwers, most of the historical fiction I read is about England, Scotland and Wales and I had forgotten how fascinating all history is, even our own. Along with that, we had the tale of two men, Quent and Cormac who had the to wear the difficult roles of life between two different civilizations, the white man and the red.
February 17, 2010
I love novels set in early America. The birth of America is my favorite period in history and I read and research as much as I can about it. I think it's a time that gets overlooked a lot, especially in fiction, where everybody seems to be more interested in medieval times, the Tudors, Regency, etc. I immediately purchased this book after it was recommended in the American Historical Fiction Group.
I was thrown at first by the opening scene. The story begins with the five nuns of St. Clare flagellating themselves in their little chapel in Quebec, which I thought was an odd opening for a story about imperial war. But it turns out their order will play an important role in the story.
Adopted brothers Quentin Hale and Cormac Shea divide their time between the white and Indian worlds, occasionally hiring themselves out as wilderness scouts. While thus employed they meet unexpectedly on opposite sides of a skirmish between French and British troops, the latter lead by George Washington. Turns out Cormac was actually looking for Quent, bearing a message from his mother: his father is dying and he is needed back at the family plantation, Shadowbrook. Their long journey from the Ohio Country to New York is made complicated by the young, beautiful and mysterious French woman Nicole Crane, whom Cormac has agreed to escort to Quebec.
More complications await them at Shadowbrook, where they arrive to find they are not welcome by Quent's older brother John, who has been squandering the family fortune. Quent begins to think he could be happy again at Shadowbrook and confesses his love to Nicole who tells him she has chosen to give her life to God. Add to Quent's problems a land-obsessed Scotsman who covets Shadowbrook and will stop at nothing to get it, a lawless Indian renegade who has it out for Quent, and the fact that Shadowbrook lies between the two opposing forces as war appears imminent. The French are forming dangerous alliances with the Indian nations, and that's where the order of nuns comes back into play, as Nicole arrives to join them and two powerful French clergymen vie to use their influence with Indians and inhabitants to aid the French cause in the war for Canada and the Ohio territory.
I really wanted to love this book...but I didn't.
The historical content gets 5 Stars from me. Lots of information on French Canada, its leaders and its inhabitants, on the northern Indian nations; their customs and hardships, and good insights as to why and how each nation chose where to stand in the conflict. The writing itself is very good; great descriptive passages and settings that come to life.
However, the story and characterization only get 3 Stars from me. The first half of the book starts off very promising, but then the main characters become separated for long lengths of time and a few subplots come and go and when they finally get back together it's very anti-climactic and doesn't feel truly satisfying. The point of view switches around so much, (there are about 20 different POVs), it's hard to really get to the meat of any one character, so they all come off being rather superficial. And at times I really just wanted to smack Nicole.
My final reaction to this book was really more like 3 Stars, but it is too well-researched and crafted to rate it that low, so I'm giving more weight to the historical content. I do think this author is worthy of another chance and so I plan to read the first book in her series about New York City, City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan.
I was thrown at first by the opening scene. The story begins with the five nuns of St. Clare flagellating themselves in their little chapel in Quebec, which I thought was an odd opening for a story about imperial war. But it turns out their order will play an important role in the story.
Adopted brothers Quentin Hale and Cormac Shea divide their time between the white and Indian worlds, occasionally hiring themselves out as wilderness scouts. While thus employed they meet unexpectedly on opposite sides of a skirmish between French and British troops, the latter lead by George Washington. Turns out Cormac was actually looking for Quent, bearing a message from his mother: his father is dying and he is needed back at the family plantation, Shadowbrook. Their long journey from the Ohio Country to New York is made complicated by the young, beautiful and mysterious French woman Nicole Crane, whom Cormac has agreed to escort to Quebec.
More complications await them at Shadowbrook, where they arrive to find they are not welcome by Quent's older brother John, who has been squandering the family fortune. Quent begins to think he could be happy again at Shadowbrook and confesses his love to Nicole who tells him she has chosen to give her life to God. Add to Quent's problems a land-obsessed Scotsman who covets Shadowbrook and will stop at nothing to get it, a lawless Indian renegade who has it out for Quent, and the fact that Shadowbrook lies between the two opposing forces as war appears imminent. The French are forming dangerous alliances with the Indian nations, and that's where the order of nuns comes back into play, as Nicole arrives to join them and two powerful French clergymen vie to use their influence with Indians and inhabitants to aid the French cause in the war for Canada and the Ohio territory.
I really wanted to love this book...but I didn't.
The historical content gets 5 Stars from me. Lots of information on French Canada, its leaders and its inhabitants, on the northern Indian nations; their customs and hardships, and good insights as to why and how each nation chose where to stand in the conflict. The writing itself is very good; great descriptive passages and settings that come to life.
However, the story and characterization only get 3 Stars from me. The first half of the book starts off very promising, but then the main characters become separated for long lengths of time and a few subplots come and go and when they finally get back together it's very anti-climactic and doesn't feel truly satisfying. The point of view switches around so much, (there are about 20 different POVs), it's hard to really get to the meat of any one character, so they all come off being rather superficial. And at times I really just wanted to smack Nicole.
My final reaction to this book was really more like 3 Stars, but it is too well-researched and crafted to rate it that low, so I'm giving more weight to the historical content. I do think this author is worthy of another chance and so I plan to read the first book in her series about New York City, City of Dreams: A Novel of Nieuw Amsterdam and Early Manhattan.
March 28, 2013
Truly, I wish that the author had just let the story be a story. Entirely too much like reading a textbook through a layer of characters that had been created only for the purpose of being the vehicle of a history lesson. I wanted to be invested in these characters, they had such promise of depth, however, the author frequently left them two dimensional, and their motives unplumbed so that she could encompass more of the period history than was needed. A reader sitting down with a historical novel will generally have some basic knowledge and interest in the time period in which the novel is set. Therefore, we need less of a teaching moment, and more of an escape. A bringing to life of a period in which we are already interested.
The character to character conflict seem the purest melodrama, overblown and manufactured. The romance was just suddenly "there" with no build, no time to evolve. I will hesitate to pick up any further works by this author.
The character to character conflict seem the purest melodrama, overblown and manufactured. The romance was just suddenly "there" with no build, no time to evolve. I will hesitate to pick up any further works by this author.
April 11, 2011
Wow. Never would I have thought I could be so engaged in the French and Indian War. This book spans the years of a family in New York State that finds themselves trying to keep one foot on both sides of the war. I was fascinated finding out about Native American/English settler history. What I really appreciated about this book was the fact it didn't pretty up either side of the war. Both the Native Americans and whites did some pretty atrocious things. Our history seems to have swung like a pendulum from demonizing the Native Americans, to making them the innocent victims and the whites the massacre-ists, and hopefully now it will be acceptable to just tell the truth.
I would not have wanted to have been a settler on the edge of the "border" so to speak. A rough time. The Native American culture was both beautiful, fascinating and violent and terrifying at the same time. Loved finding out so much about their culture, as well as their relations between tribes. Amazing how their views on honor and death were so different from the whites.
Post-edit: I think the novel would have been a little better if he would have dropped some of the tangents and sub-plots. He tried to cover a few too many bases.
FYI: Novel contains some pretty graphic, realistic violence and war. The Indians were pretty blunt and nonchalant about sex, so it's pretty much the same way in a few scenes.
I would not have wanted to have been a settler on the edge of the "border" so to speak. A rough time. The Native American culture was both beautiful, fascinating and violent and terrifying at the same time. Loved finding out so much about their culture, as well as their relations between tribes. Amazing how their views on honor and death were so different from the whites.
Post-edit: I think the novel would have been a little better if he would have dropped some of the tangents and sub-plots. He tried to cover a few too many bases.
FYI: Novel contains some pretty graphic, realistic violence and war. The Indians were pretty blunt and nonchalant about sex, so it's pretty much the same way in a few scenes.
November 21, 2012
Rich in historical detail, this novel follows the lives of sort-of stepbrothers Cormac Shea and Quentin Hale. Quentin is the white boy, raised in privilege on a northern plantation (patent) called Shadowbrook, who at the age of six or seven meets half Native American, half white boy Cormac Shea. Shea's mother, a Native American, mistress to Quentin's father, moves into Shadowbrook with her son, despite the fact that Quentin's mother is still very much alive and not so happily married. This is the backdrop, most of the book is when the two are already grown, during the four years that lead up to the Revolutionary War. The fighting between the French and English, the Natives and the Europeans, the Americans and the English, it is all here, in stunning and very violent detail. I loved the characters, a big plus, and I learned a lot about the time period, to be sure. It was, however, unpleasant to read a lot of the book because of the violence, and because it is always depressing to read about man's capability to act in such inhumane ways. The only reason I picked this one at the library (had never heard of it or of the author) is because there is a former estate called Shadowbrook, now a restaurant/event location, close to where I live in New Jersey, and I had my wedding reception there, so I decided to get the book just because of that, and I'm glad I did. Depressing or not, Swerling is a good writer, and if you like historical fiction, I would definitely recommend this.
May 26, 2008
Beverly Swerling is fast becoming one of my favorite historical fiction authors, period. I think she's probably safely in second place actually, behind only my somewhat embarrassing obsession with Phillipa Gregory. Shadowbrook only has tenuous connections to the characters introduced in City of Dreams, but it retains that sort of epic, multi-character perspective that makes her other books so appealing. Very enjoyable, all around.
September 25, 2012
Lots and lots of history here. The author clearly did a lot of research, and that alone makes me want to give it more stars. But all the history made for a bit of a dense read. I would have liked a little more focus on the story.
August 23, 2024
An epic story of the ENTIRE French and Indian War, which is a bit ambitious for a work of historical fiction, and may be in part why it didn't work as well as it could have. Swerling is undoubtedly an amazing story teller and this was a captivating way to spend my second beach week. However, I just wish it had a bit less language.
June 1, 2012
Beverly Swerling’s novels introduced me to early American history, and Shadowbrook is my favourite of them all. It takes place before the American Revolution during the French and Indian wars. There is plenty of history about a conflict that doesn’t get much attention, a war that was not as glamorous or definitively triumphant as 1776, but still essential to understanding the dynamics of the alliances that formed before the colonies finally went to war with Britain. There’s lots of the competent story-telling I’ve come to expect from Swerling. Other reviewers have summarized the plot, so I’ll just focus on why I liked it.
This book is more intimate than Swerling’s other novels; she lets us spend time with the people. The two main characters, Quentin Hale and Cormac Shea, arrive at Shadowbrook, their family plantation and immediately the intrigue begins, complications fed by family dynamics, and deepened by war, love, and avarice.
There’s lots to keep the pages turning, but it’s the scenes set in Shadowbrook that stand out for me. I loved the small details of everyday life on the farm, the self-sufficient toughness of its workers and tenants. Shadowbrook, a precarious oasis of safety in a perilous time, brought this era of history alive for me.
This book is more intimate than Swerling’s other novels; she lets us spend time with the people. The two main characters, Quentin Hale and Cormac Shea, arrive at Shadowbrook, their family plantation and immediately the intrigue begins, complications fed by family dynamics, and deepened by war, love, and avarice.
There’s lots to keep the pages turning, but it’s the scenes set in Shadowbrook that stand out for me. I loved the small details of everyday life on the farm, the self-sufficient toughness of its workers and tenants. Shadowbrook, a precarious oasis of safety in a perilous time, brought this era of history alive for me.
November 30, 2012
4.0 out of 5 stars -- epic, sweeping saga that details the fight over the land that was eastern Canada by the English, French and Indians circa 1754-1769.
Somewhat confusing at times with alternating points of view and many foreign language phrases and terms (at least to me), this novel was a very interesting history lesson as well as a glimpse into a very bloody time in American history. The savagery and the conceit of those who decided they could own land they did not create led to a series of deadly battles that changed the face of North America.
The book was full of details and unpronounceable names or perhaps the same person, place or thing having many different identifiers! I did enjoy it a lot as I love historical fiction with a few real people integrated into the story enough to make it even more intriguing. Since I did already know the outcome of the "wars", I was able to let the narrative unfold with the backstory through the eyes of the memorable characters.
Yet another great novel by Beverly Swerling!
Somewhat confusing at times with alternating points of view and many foreign language phrases and terms (at least to me), this novel was a very interesting history lesson as well as a glimpse into a very bloody time in American history. The savagery and the conceit of those who decided they could own land they did not create led to a series of deadly battles that changed the face of North America.
The book was full of details and unpronounceable names or perhaps the same person, place or thing having many different identifiers! I did enjoy it a lot as I love historical fiction with a few real people integrated into the story enough to make it even more intriguing. Since I did already know the outcome of the "wars", I was able to let the narrative unfold with the backstory through the eyes of the memorable characters.
Yet another great novel by Beverly Swerling!
May 16, 2025
I quit on page 202. Although I've invested a lot into this, I just couldn't struggle through another 290 pages. It's just not going to happen. There was some good in this but life is too short to dwell in a book you don't like. I guess my biggest gripe was that the jacket and the hype was misleading. Can’t agree that this was really a book about the French and Indian War; maybe it would be eventually but the setup was tedious.
July 27, 2008
A historical novel on the founding of the United States. Well written, well researched, and an entertaining read.
August 8, 2010
This is definetly my type of book. An American frontier historical that is incredibly well done. I couldn't stop reading it!
October 20, 2023
2.5 rounded up. The book had promise, but got bogged down in all the wrong areas. It was overall just far too long for what it was.
I loved how intricately detailed it was about the interrelationships between the various Native Americans tribes, and about the relationships between the various tribes and the English, the French, and the English and French colonials, respectively. The overall geography and history was interesting, too. I get the impression the author did a ton of painstaking research about this time, so that was cool (and deserves credit). That alone is why I am rounding up.
The downside was that the book lacked focus. There was a superficiality to certain characters, because everything was spread too thin. For example, the Jesuit leader and the Franciscan leader were both just jerky hypocritical men who did shady stuff, without much more to distinguish between them. I kept getting them confused. If we are going to spend so much time with these guys, make them individual, and make me care about them (love or hate, either is fine, but not indifference). Some characters were, in my opinion, entirely superfluous. Why do we meet certain Sachems just for a 5 min conversation? Why are there certain characters named in the beginning "cast of characters" that we only meet once, when they have already just been killed, while others that aren't in that cast of characters that are more important? Why do certain characters show up and seem important only to disappear and never show up in the story again? What was the point of Marni?? Overall, I feel like this was probably more of a mid-stage draft than a completed novel. There needed to be a winnowing down of the most important plot lines and characters, and then a fleshing out of the important stuff that was left. I am OK with lengthy novels, but everything in there has to serve a real purpose either in terms of plot or character development. Much in here did neither.
Another major gripe: A little too much "heaving bosom" "swollen manhood" and ripping bodices type nonsense in here for my tastes. You want to have the love between two characters be a plot point, fine. But I don't need to hear about some guy's swollen manhood as he admired the outlines of her bosoms under her tight dress, etc. At least not in those terms. I don't even mind actual sex scenes. It was the weird male-gaze, creepy incel lusting prose that icked me out. So much of it sounded like it was written by a man in the 1950s trying to imagine what a woman thought was hot. Legitimately shocked this was written by a woman in the last 20 years.
I was fuming when there was some BS about a woman giving a man authority over her once she let herself lie with him. And the book ends with some very creepy behavior where the guy tricks the girl into a native american marriage ceremony when he KNOWS she is very ambivalent about having a relationship with him, and then literally "pushes her down" and gets on top of her to kiss her. I am not really very easily offended by this kind of stuff and even I was put off. True, she actually loved him, and ultimately decides to marry him but it's just...not the way you want to advocate going about something. Not the strong male lead of my dreams, that's for sure. I like them a little less rapey.
I loved how intricately detailed it was about the interrelationships between the various Native Americans tribes, and about the relationships between the various tribes and the English, the French, and the English and French colonials, respectively. The overall geography and history was interesting, too. I get the impression the author did a ton of painstaking research about this time, so that was cool (and deserves credit). That alone is why I am rounding up.
The downside was that the book lacked focus. There was a superficiality to certain characters, because everything was spread too thin. For example, the Jesuit leader and the Franciscan leader were both just jerky hypocritical men who did shady stuff, without much more to distinguish between them. I kept getting them confused. If we are going to spend so much time with these guys, make them individual, and make me care about them (love or hate, either is fine, but not indifference). Some characters were, in my opinion, entirely superfluous. Why do we meet certain Sachems just for a 5 min conversation? Why are there certain characters named in the beginning "cast of characters" that we only meet once, when they have already just been killed, while others that aren't in that cast of characters that are more important? Why do certain characters show up and seem important only to disappear and never show up in the story again? What was the point of Marni?? Overall, I feel like this was probably more of a mid-stage draft than a completed novel. There needed to be a winnowing down of the most important plot lines and characters, and then a fleshing out of the important stuff that was left. I am OK with lengthy novels, but everything in there has to serve a real purpose either in terms of plot or character development. Much in here did neither.
Another major gripe: A little too much "heaving bosom" "swollen manhood" and ripping bodices type nonsense in here for my tastes. You want to have the love between two characters be a plot point, fine. But I don't need to hear about some guy's swollen manhood as he admired the outlines of her bosoms under her tight dress, etc. At least not in those terms. I don't even mind actual sex scenes. It was the weird male-gaze, creepy incel lusting prose that icked me out. So much of it sounded like it was written by a man in the 1950s trying to imagine what a woman thought was hot. Legitimately shocked this was written by a woman in the last 20 years.
I was fuming when there was some BS about a woman giving a man authority over her once she let herself lie with him. And the book ends with some very creepy behavior where the guy tricks the girl into a native american marriage ceremony when he KNOWS she is very ambivalent about having a relationship with him, and then literally "pushes her down" and gets on top of her to kiss her. I am not really very easily offended by this kind of stuff and even I was put off. True, she actually loved him, and ultimately decides to marry him but it's just...not the way you want to advocate going about something. Not the strong male lead of my dreams, that's for sure. I like them a little less rapey.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 12, 2022
Story of colonial America during the French and Indian War in which love and family are in constant conflict.
Though Quentin and Cormac were raised as brothers, they couldn’t be more different-Cormac Shea has two feet set in different worlds, part Irish, part Indian, he fights for his mother’s people but can easily slip into civilized society. Quentin Hale, a son of a prosperous landowner, was raised both in white society as well as amongst the Indians. He too feels torn between worlds but as the war closes in on home, he finds where his loyalties truly lie. In between it all is Nicole Crane, a young woman vowed to be a nun but love slowly gets in the way.
As the Seven Years’ War rages, all three must pick a side and find their place in history.
A captivating read from start to finish, I honestly couldn’t put it down. All the characters were so full of life and detail but it’s Quentin Hale who stole the show. The way the Indians fondly nicknamed him “Red Bear,” how his character was placed right in the action, alongside George Washington and even in London. How he was comfortable regardless of the setting and his compassion for others in particular the slaves standing-very admirable. He felt that all people, no matter the color or where they came from deserved to be free. Truly a wonderful, well written and throughly researched story. I enjoyed every minute of it.
Though Quentin and Cormac were raised as brothers, they couldn’t be more different-Cormac Shea has two feet set in different worlds, part Irish, part Indian, he fights for his mother’s people but can easily slip into civilized society. Quentin Hale, a son of a prosperous landowner, was raised both in white society as well as amongst the Indians. He too feels torn between worlds but as the war closes in on home, he finds where his loyalties truly lie. In between it all is Nicole Crane, a young woman vowed to be a nun but love slowly gets in the way.
As the Seven Years’ War rages, all three must pick a side and find their place in history.
A captivating read from start to finish, I honestly couldn’t put it down. All the characters were so full of life and detail but it’s Quentin Hale who stole the show. The way the Indians fondly nicknamed him “Red Bear,” how his character was placed right in the action, alongside George Washington and even in London. How he was comfortable regardless of the setting and his compassion for others in particular the slaves standing-very admirable. He felt that all people, no matter the color or where they came from deserved to be free. Truly a wonderful, well written and throughly researched story. I enjoyed every minute of it.
January 23, 2024
North America, 1754 to 1769. The French, English and the Indian tribes are competing with one another for possession of the New World. The story is told through Quentin Hale, the second son of the estate known as Shadowbrook; his half brother, Cormac Shea, the son of an Indian squaw, and Nicole, a French woman who enters a monastery to pay for the sins of her soldier father. I learned a significant amount of history reading this novel told in a story that will remain with me.
January 4, 2019
This book is incredibly dense, possibly more detailed than it needs to be. An interesting look at the French and Indian War and the many different cultural communities that made up North America in the mid 1700s. It takes a while to get moving, but it picks up the pace once you see how the many characters are connected.
January 1, 2023
Fascinating combination of history and personal chal!enges and victories
Well researched history. Fascinating understanding of the original people's societies and spirituality. Captivating description of the strengths and weaknesses of the main characters and those they encountered.
Well researched history. Fascinating understanding of the original people's societies and spirituality. Captivating description of the strengths and weaknesses of the main characters and those they encountered.
May 6, 2018
I actually bailed on this book. First there was the scene that was early similar to the movie Last of the Mohicans. Then the eldest son rapes a 9 year old slave, which the author writes about in detail.
April 5, 2022
Unanswered Questions....
I loved this story so much that I gave it 5 stars despite, what I felt was loose ends. I won't go into specifics to give anything away, but there are a couple blanks in certain characters storylines that I wish the author would've answered.
I loved this story so much that I gave it 5 stars despite, what I felt was loose ends. I won't go into specifics to give anything away, but there are a couple blanks in certain characters storylines that I wish the author would've answered.
June 3, 2022
So well written. Was a little long for me but I was determined to finish it! Honestly some of it went over my head and was hard to follow. If you want a full experience, I'd research some of the tribes and customs beforehand.
May 19, 2024
4.5 stars. Took a long time to get into and figure out all the characters, but 100% worth it. The author could have dropped some of the historical minutiae and focused on fewer characters, but a fantastic story about a period that doesn't get a lot of attention.
April 8, 2018
Took me forever to read it. I kept losing interest and putting it down and reading a different book before coming back to it again. I am glad that I did finish it but the ending left me unsatisfied.
January 31, 2020
Not really my kind of story, but it was long and decent enough I guess.
April 8, 2022
Its graphic in parts, and there's a lot of native American information that I found confusing. However I enjoy her writing style.
August 14, 2022
Great historical detail, but the story line fell flat and made it difficult to read
March 18, 2016
Shadowbrook is a book that spans the French and Indian War. The novel follows many different characters but the main protagonist of the book seems to be Quentin Hale.
The Good:
The book is very, very well researched and the inaccuracies are small enough that only the most pedantic historian would nitpick them. The multiple settings are described beautifully and add nice atmosphere. The battles, too, are well written.
Some of the characters have interesting arcs if not entirely engaging ones and many have unique voices. Most are depicted as in a morally gray area as well which I think is important in a book that follows a war.
The Bad:
Quentin Hale's portion of the story was, unfortunately, really flaccid. As the guy we're supposed to be rooting for he comes of bland most of the time. He's always right about everything and is rarely shown as being challenged morally. He leaves the story almost the exact same as he entered it. Everything he does is painted with a positive brush (there is a particularly slimy thing he does at the end that's shown as romantic, too).
A lot of characters meet their end too neatly, once having served their usefulness being killed off in ways that left little impact, if any, and a few in particular made me think the deaths were done simply for the fact that it'd make Quent's happy ending easier.
There is also a TON of PoV shifts and they can be hard to keep track of. Not only that but I feel as a good chunk of them added nothing to the story and could have been removed entirely to focus more attention towards other areas of the plot that needed more padding. It's hard to connect with any of the characters because of the constant shifts and small amounts of time we get to spend with each of them.
It almost feels like Shadowbrook was supposed to be a trilogy but had to nipped down to one book with smaller 'books' inside.
The Ugly:
The rape, beating, and torture of a 9 year old Ibo slave girl. It was gratuitous and, most importantly, completely unnecessary to the plot. By that point it was already well established that the character who did this was depraved and an all around bad person.
Even if it hadn't been established the amount of detail and pages wasted (page amounts that were rarely granted else where in the narrative I might add) on this one event was appalling. That was time, effort, and energy that could have been spent elsewhere.
In conclusion:
This novel isn't great but I think has enough redeeming qualities that make it worth a look if you're in to mostly accurate historical novels that are set in a time of war. It'll likely frustrate those who enjoy fleshed out characters. It's not for those who are squeamish.
The Good:
The book is very, very well researched and the inaccuracies are small enough that only the most pedantic historian would nitpick them. The multiple settings are described beautifully and add nice atmosphere. The battles, too, are well written.
Some of the characters have interesting arcs if not entirely engaging ones and many have unique voices. Most are depicted as in a morally gray area as well which I think is important in a book that follows a war.
The Bad:
Quentin Hale's portion of the story was, unfortunately, really flaccid. As the guy we're supposed to be rooting for he comes of bland most of the time. He's always right about everything and is rarely shown as being challenged morally. He leaves the story almost the exact same as he entered it. Everything he does is painted with a positive brush (there is a particularly slimy thing he does at the end that's shown as romantic, too).
A lot of characters meet their end too neatly, once having served their usefulness being killed off in ways that left little impact, if any, and a few in particular made me think the deaths were done simply for the fact that it'd make Quent's happy ending easier.
There is also a TON of PoV shifts and they can be hard to keep track of. Not only that but I feel as a good chunk of them added nothing to the story and could have been removed entirely to focus more attention towards other areas of the plot that needed more padding. It's hard to connect with any of the characters because of the constant shifts and small amounts of time we get to spend with each of them.
It almost feels like Shadowbrook was supposed to be a trilogy but had to nipped down to one book with smaller 'books' inside.
The Ugly:
The rape, beating, and torture of a 9 year old Ibo slave girl. It was gratuitous and, most importantly, completely unnecessary to the plot. By that point it was already well established that the character who did this was depraved and an all around bad person.
Even if it hadn't been established the amount of detail and pages wasted (page amounts that were rarely granted else where in the narrative I might add) on this one event was appalling. That was time, effort, and energy that could have been spent elsewhere.
In conclusion:
This novel isn't great but I think has enough redeeming qualities that make it worth a look if you're in to mostly accurate historical novels that are set in a time of war. It'll likely frustrate those who enjoy fleshed out characters. It's not for those who are squeamish.
April 20, 2014
This book is set during the French and Indian War mainly in upstate New York. There is some mention of the Ohio Country which will become Pittsburg, Pennsylvania later and Quebec in Canada. I am unsure exactly where in Canada they were fighting as there was only the map of the Hale Patent at the beginning of this novel. That would be my main complaint of this story is that it was hard to place the actions. The history portions did not bother me as much as I really like History. I did find the text of this novel I bit dense which was why it took so long to read. It has been a while since a book as taken me nine days to read. While that may not be a bad thing in and of itself I recognize that other readers do not like dense novels burdened with a lot of historical information. There is a short bibliographical essay in the acknowledgments on where Beverly Swerling got some of her information for those wanting to do further research. Unfortunately I currently have too any books to read to start that particular list at the present time. I do not see it happening during this calendar year, either so we will all see where my reading takes me in 2014.
Shadowbrook is a land grant patent in New York Colony. It was given to Quentin Hale's Great Grandfather originally. This is set in the eighteenth century when there were still slaves in New York to give fair warning to any reader who may be offended by our country's more reprehensible acts of the past. There is one character at the beginning who mentions emancipation, but that is all. The rest of the story takes the reader around the French and Indian War until the French are defeated in Quebec and forced to flee to Louisiana. There is a lot about Indian rights in this novel and as they were either lied to or had their land stolen from them anyway it is hard to fathom what side Swerling is actually on. She tried to show the Indians in a positive light through her narrative, but reading between the lines one can see why they lost their lands. This is another difficult topic in American History, but one cannot go around terrorizing one's neighbors. The Indians seemed to be at a perpetual state of war even before English colonization.
There is a brother rivalry in this novel also that threatens the Patent and that is the main story because Quentin finding a spouse.
Shadowbrook is a land grant patent in New York Colony. It was given to Quentin Hale's Great Grandfather originally. This is set in the eighteenth century when there were still slaves in New York to give fair warning to any reader who may be offended by our country's more reprehensible acts of the past. There is one character at the beginning who mentions emancipation, but that is all. The rest of the story takes the reader around the French and Indian War until the French are defeated in Quebec and forced to flee to Louisiana. There is a lot about Indian rights in this novel and as they were either lied to or had their land stolen from them anyway it is hard to fathom what side Swerling is actually on. She tried to show the Indians in a positive light through her narrative, but reading between the lines one can see why they lost their lands. This is another difficult topic in American History, but one cannot go around terrorizing one's neighbors. The Indians seemed to be at a perpetual state of war even before English colonization.
There is a brother rivalry in this novel also that threatens the Patent and that is the main story because Quentin finding a spouse.
June 6, 2012
In 't kort: het boek speelt zich af tussen 1745 en 1758, in de Verenigde Staten en Quebec. De historische setting focust op de oorlog tussen de Engelsen en Fransen om heerschappij in de Nieuwe Wereld, met de Indianen er tussenin. Daarin volgen we Cormac Shea en Quentin Hale, twee blanke halfbroers die grootgebracht zijn bij de Indianen. Zij zijn zogenaamde 'bridge-persons', mannen die de twee beschavingen met elkaar in verband brengen, en hebben een grote droom waarin de Indianen vreedzaam naast de blanken leven.
Daarnaast is er ook nog het verhaal van Nicole Crane, een jonge Franse dame van Engelse afkomst, die als Arme Klare het klooster van Quebec wil intreden.
Mijn oordeel: een verhaal over trouw, verraad, liefde, dromen en oorlog. Het verhaal wordt chronologisch verteld, maar vanuit verschillende locaties, en dus elke keer door iemand anders verteld. Zo worden verschillende verhalen door elkaar heen verteld, en dat kan even verwarrend zijn. Omdat ik het boek even had laten liggen, ben ik helemaal opnieuw moeten beginnen. Maar de auteur beloont je voor je inspanningen met een ravissant verhaal, waarbij de historische couleur locale zorgt voor een extra toets bij een al heel knap ineengeknutselde roman. En dat de Indianen achteraf met lege handen achterblijven, dat zal niemand verrassen.
Ook nog leuk: je steekt er nog wat van op. Wie wist dat Miami, Ottawa en Delaware ook namen zijn van Indianenstammen ?
Eindoordeel: **** 1/2
Daarnaast is er ook nog het verhaal van Nicole Crane, een jonge Franse dame van Engelse afkomst, die als Arme Klare het klooster van Quebec wil intreden.
Mijn oordeel: een verhaal over trouw, verraad, liefde, dromen en oorlog. Het verhaal wordt chronologisch verteld, maar vanuit verschillende locaties, en dus elke keer door iemand anders verteld. Zo worden verschillende verhalen door elkaar heen verteld, en dat kan even verwarrend zijn. Omdat ik het boek even had laten liggen, ben ik helemaal opnieuw moeten beginnen. Maar de auteur beloont je voor je inspanningen met een ravissant verhaal, waarbij de historische couleur locale zorgt voor een extra toets bij een al heel knap ineengeknutselde roman. En dat de Indianen achteraf met lege handen achterblijven, dat zal niemand verrassen.
Ook nog leuk: je steekt er nog wat van op. Wie wist dat Miami, Ottawa en Delaware ook namen zijn van Indianenstammen ?
Eindoordeel: **** 1/2
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