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Port Royal
The twilight of the buccaneers is richly re-imagined for adult, contemporary tastes in PORT ROYAL. The year is 1681, and Charles, King of England has a scheme to make his fortune from Jamaica, flooding it with slaves to fuel a sugar boom. But his outrageous Royal Governor, the former buccaneer commander Henry Morgan, has planned a ruthless coup to seize the Island for himself behind a force of privateers. To set the stage for his ambitions, Sir Henry thrusts the celebrated Captain Michael Scot into a lucrative but daunting expedition deep into the jungles of the Darien - exposing him as much to danger from his own resentful allies (English, French and Indians) as from their common Spanish enemy. Morgan also pulls his shrewd Chief Justice into service in a war against a radical, ambitious politician bent on democratic government. But Judge Dawkins has his own agendas, and his own entanglements with Island woman - including both a vain plantation heiress and her haughty and exotic slave.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
604 pages, Paperback
First published January 19, 2012
13 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
Robert Polevoi
8 books5 followersI'm a native Californian who has never lived anywhere else. Raised in Los Angeles, but moved to the Bay Area after UCLA and (with very minor exceptions) have lived my entire adult life in the forested hills above Oakland - a remarkably beautiful place that most people have no idea exists. I went to law school and became a lawyer, but couldn't stick with it. Spent some solid years in tech, mostly in 3D computer graphics.
But a writer is a writer is a writer - there's just no escaping it. It took a lot of work, but I finally got my fiction to the level where it's fair to ask for the precious time and attention of the serious reader.
I've been married for a good long time, and have a daughter who is just graduating college.
But a writer is a writer is a writer - there's just no escaping it. It took a lot of work, but I finally got my fiction to the level where it's fair to ask for the precious time and attention of the serious reader.
I've been married for a good long time, and have a daughter who is just graduating college.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 21, 2015
This is a particularly fine novel. I kept on thinking of classics, such as the work of Henry James, and Conrad's "Heart of Darkness". It has a dated lilt to it, giving it the feel of a novel written before the 20th century. But it is brilliantly, beautifully, written, the machinations of the manipulative characters bringing each to the edge of the very essence of their humanity. Some lines cut to the core--"Everyone feels safer with a man they know can frighten them" (one of dozens of gems). The portrait of Henry Morgan was simply delightful.
Name choices might prove a little confusing to anyone who knows a little of the period. Charles (not William) Swan was a privateer murdered in Mindanao in 1690. Jean Lafitte (not LaRoux) was a real pirate two centuries later. William Dawkins (not Roger) was a prosperous landowner in Jamaica, and received 1,775 acres of land between 1669-1682. Also, the capitol was Spanish Town, not Port Royal. But these are quibbles. It is an absolute crime this book was not picked up by a major publisher and given the publicity and readership it deserves (aargh!)
Name choices might prove a little confusing to anyone who knows a little of the period. Charles (not William) Swan was a privateer murdered in Mindanao in 1690. Jean Lafitte (not LaRoux) was a real pirate two centuries later. William Dawkins (not Roger) was a prosperous landowner in Jamaica, and received 1,775 acres of land between 1669-1682. Also, the capitol was Spanish Town, not Port Royal. But these are quibbles. It is an absolute crime this book was not picked up by a major publisher and given the publicity and readership it deserves (aargh!)
May 29, 2012
It’s the twilight of the buccaneers and a rot has set in. In the first scene Countess Joan, a courtesan (as the tarts style themselves, so far from London) tells Captain Michael Scot he has 'the privateer’s disease' – her name for what she has seen before, in every captain, or at least the decent ones, if they live. Out the window she watches ‘an ugly incident’ – a Negro slave boy is beaten – and this seeps into her melancholy. The captain is about to leave on an expedition into the Darien.
His lieutenant Bradley is ‘a privateer antiquity’ at forty-five, and acts as the glue between soldiers and captain, whose charisma requires he stands apart. Lt. Bradley and Countess Joan are the two who love Scot, and try to save him throughout the book as that disease sets in – terribly in the wilds of the Darien, extravagantly. What matters to captain and lieutenant is that he live his legend to the end, but he is sorely assailed from within.
In the forward the author says of his characters, “They seem to me a larger sort of creature than we find about us now, albeit often it’s a larger evil.” The privateers among them, Scot and Sir Henry Morgan, consciously strive for the larger-than-life effect, though that can take its toll. When Morgan first looms into the story he writes, "Some men are very large, but few of these have inner magnitudes to tally with their bulk." Sir Henry does, and rejoices in it. "Another man his size would be too large, and certainly too fat. But Morgan’s corpus fairly measured the accumulated soldier." The knighted privateer, a royal governor now, is in a secret intrigue or tussle with his king – but that’s to give away plot. The toll on him, perhaps, is taken in a different fashion than on Scot, still active and in the Darien.
I can’t introduce the whole cast like this. I’ll only mention Lily, a sugar aristocrat – as sugar and the slaves that feed the sugar overstride the old world of buccaneers and Spanish gold. Scot is on his way to be obsolete; Sir Henry, like the politician he is now, adjusts. Lily has a facial blemish that obsesses her; she is driven by "her heroic wrestling match with female imperfection." This is strange enough - in a woman fit to out-politic the assembly and the governor - but there is a passage, where we learn her history, I found excruciatingly touching.
A few things about the writing. In the early parts the conversations struck me: big, slow scenes of human interaction where people talk to each other and a lot happens. He writes eventful conversations.
Out on the expedition, he makes bizarre things believable. There is a flagrantly bizarre thing, built with such care you cannot shake the structure. Bizarre things happen in life but they can be hard to get away with in fiction. This writer sinks his teeth into the challenge.
There’s the cross-purposes he orchestrates, and people’s misperceptions of each other.
There are the subtle (no attention is drawn to them – you just start to notice) use of analogies or echo. Lily’s beloved veils: the Indians’ gold plates to hide their mouths. Different freedoms and different slaveries and different kings and queens.
I like the way he writes of violence. I’m not sure I should try to describe how that is, other than mention its simplicity, its matter-of-factness. It’s the opposite of sensationalised.
I’ve read on Robert Polevoi’s blog about what he calls his ‘jazz’ method of demanding from himself a risky innovation on the fly. That is, he won’t give himself the outcomes ahead of time: this guaranteed him a spontaneity, an unpredictability. It’s hard to get away from a false logic in fiction, but he has been determined to, and I felt the results.
I had a smashing time with this; swept right off my right with the first pages; haven't been so involved in a novel for years.
His lieutenant Bradley is ‘a privateer antiquity’ at forty-five, and acts as the glue between soldiers and captain, whose charisma requires he stands apart. Lt. Bradley and Countess Joan are the two who love Scot, and try to save him throughout the book as that disease sets in – terribly in the wilds of the Darien, extravagantly. What matters to captain and lieutenant is that he live his legend to the end, but he is sorely assailed from within.
In the forward the author says of his characters, “They seem to me a larger sort of creature than we find about us now, albeit often it’s a larger evil.” The privateers among them, Scot and Sir Henry Morgan, consciously strive for the larger-than-life effect, though that can take its toll. When Morgan first looms into the story he writes, "Some men are very large, but few of these have inner magnitudes to tally with their bulk." Sir Henry does, and rejoices in it. "Another man his size would be too large, and certainly too fat. But Morgan’s corpus fairly measured the accumulated soldier." The knighted privateer, a royal governor now, is in a secret intrigue or tussle with his king – but that’s to give away plot. The toll on him, perhaps, is taken in a different fashion than on Scot, still active and in the Darien.
I can’t introduce the whole cast like this. I’ll only mention Lily, a sugar aristocrat – as sugar and the slaves that feed the sugar overstride the old world of buccaneers and Spanish gold. Scot is on his way to be obsolete; Sir Henry, like the politician he is now, adjusts. Lily has a facial blemish that obsesses her; she is driven by "her heroic wrestling match with female imperfection." This is strange enough - in a woman fit to out-politic the assembly and the governor - but there is a passage, where we learn her history, I found excruciatingly touching.
A few things about the writing. In the early parts the conversations struck me: big, slow scenes of human interaction where people talk to each other and a lot happens. He writes eventful conversations.
Out on the expedition, he makes bizarre things believable. There is a flagrantly bizarre thing, built with such care you cannot shake the structure. Bizarre things happen in life but they can be hard to get away with in fiction. This writer sinks his teeth into the challenge.
There’s the cross-purposes he orchestrates, and people’s misperceptions of each other.
There are the subtle (no attention is drawn to them – you just start to notice) use of analogies or echo. Lily’s beloved veils: the Indians’ gold plates to hide their mouths. Different freedoms and different slaveries and different kings and queens.
I like the way he writes of violence. I’m not sure I should try to describe how that is, other than mention its simplicity, its matter-of-factness. It’s the opposite of sensationalised.
I’ve read on Robert Polevoi’s blog about what he calls his ‘jazz’ method of demanding from himself a risky innovation on the fly. That is, he won’t give himself the outcomes ahead of time: this guaranteed him a spontaneity, an unpredictability. It’s hard to get away from a false logic in fiction, but he has been determined to, and I felt the results.
I had a smashing time with this; swept right off my right with the first pages; haven't been so involved in a novel for years.
November 5, 2012
Robert Polevoi in his new book, “Port Royal” published by Lambspring Books brings us back to Port Royal, Henry Morgan and sailing ships in one grand adventure.
From the back cover: The twilight of the buccaneers is richly re-imagined for adult, contemporary tastes.
The year is 1681, and Charles, King of England has a scheme to make his fortune from Jamaica, flooding it with slaves to fuel a sugar boom. But his outrageous Royal Governor, the former buccaneer commander Henry Morgan, has planned a ruthless coup to seize the Island for himself behind a force of privateers. To set the stage for his ambitions, Sir Henry thrusts the celebrated Captain Michael Scot into a lucrative but daunting expedition deep into the jungles of the Darien – exposing him as much to danger from his own resentful allies (English, French and Indians) as from their common Spanish enemy.
Morgan also pulls his shrewd Chief Justice into service in a war against a radical, ambitious politician bent on democratic government. But Judge Dawkins has his own agendas, and his own entanglements with Island woman – including both a vain plantation heiress and her haughty and exotic slave.
I like Raphael Sabatini, in the early 1900′s he wrote drama, romance and action set against a variety of historical settings. I submit that Robert Polevoi is the 21st Century Raphael Sabatini. “Port Royal is loaded with drama, romance and action galore. If you are going to talk about Port Royal you have to talk about pirates. This place was the place for pirates to dock their ships and have some rest and relaxation. A hotbed of scandal, treachery and politics. Mr. Polevoi really knows how to make his characters come alive as he puts them through his paces. I feel his grasp of Port Royal’s history is amazing and he teaches us about it in a very entertaining manner. “Port Royal” is a very exciting book that will keep you engrossed in the characters and the story. I liked this book a lot and I am glad I discovered Robert Polevoi. I look forward to more from this talented author and hope that Mr. Polevoi writes very quickly to bring us a new one.
If you would like to listen to interviews with other authors and professionals please go to www.kingdomhighlights.org where they are available On Demand.
To listen to 24 hours non-stop, commercial free Christian music please visit our internet radio station www.kingdomairwaves.org
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
From the back cover: The twilight of the buccaneers is richly re-imagined for adult, contemporary tastes.
The year is 1681, and Charles, King of England has a scheme to make his fortune from Jamaica, flooding it with slaves to fuel a sugar boom. But his outrageous Royal Governor, the former buccaneer commander Henry Morgan, has planned a ruthless coup to seize the Island for himself behind a force of privateers. To set the stage for his ambitions, Sir Henry thrusts the celebrated Captain Michael Scot into a lucrative but daunting expedition deep into the jungles of the Darien – exposing him as much to danger from his own resentful allies (English, French and Indians) as from their common Spanish enemy.
Morgan also pulls his shrewd Chief Justice into service in a war against a radical, ambitious politician bent on democratic government. But Judge Dawkins has his own agendas, and his own entanglements with Island woman – including both a vain plantation heiress and her haughty and exotic slave.
I like Raphael Sabatini, in the early 1900′s he wrote drama, romance and action set against a variety of historical settings. I submit that Robert Polevoi is the 21st Century Raphael Sabatini. “Port Royal is loaded with drama, romance and action galore. If you are going to talk about Port Royal you have to talk about pirates. This place was the place for pirates to dock their ships and have some rest and relaxation. A hotbed of scandal, treachery and politics. Mr. Polevoi really knows how to make his characters come alive as he puts them through his paces. I feel his grasp of Port Royal’s history is amazing and he teaches us about it in a very entertaining manner. “Port Royal” is a very exciting book that will keep you engrossed in the characters and the story. I liked this book a lot and I am glad I discovered Robert Polevoi. I look forward to more from this talented author and hope that Mr. Polevoi writes very quickly to bring us a new one.
If you would like to listen to interviews with other authors and professionals please go to www.kingdomhighlights.org where they are available On Demand.
To listen to 24 hours non-stop, commercial free Christian music please visit our internet radio station www.kingdomairwaves.org
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
October 9, 2012
This book was intense. It is not a quick read, it is engrossing, and complex. The characters were made more magnificent by the fact that this book was based on historical facts. It's set in Jamaica and the Darien. There are pirates and royalty and judges who conspire to kill governors. This book has romance and passion and theivery, killing, conquests, and drama. Lots of drama. Anyone who loves historical fiction would love this. Henry Morgan, Lily Barton, Countess Joan, Judge Dawkins, Captain Michael Scot, Edward Barton, and Esther, these are just a few of the players in this intensely encompassing Drama. I'd definitely recommend it.
July 28, 2012
This was a Goodreads giveaway book. It is set in the 1600s in Jamaica and follows the story of the privateers and the planters during this time. It is a fast paced story and the author weaves the two story lines together very well. There are a few places in the book where the action slows down, but if you keep reading it picks back up again.
Want to read
June 11, 2012I won this on First-reads
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews