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Jarrett's Jade
Lord James Jarrett, Marquis of Argyll arrived in Savannah in 1736, clad in kilt and tartan, tall, broad-shouldered and lean as a broadax, with a face less villanous than exciting. James Jarrett looked like what he was - a Highland aristocrat - the Laird of Clan Jarrett. Part devil, part angel, he came to Georgia to take the wife who would help him found a New World Clan Jarrett, a great southern dynasty. He knew what he wanted and he fought for it with a skill and daring and courage that was almost madness.
Many women loved James Jarrett. There was Maebelle, a pretty Scottish girl of seventee whose love led her to disgrace. There was Sue Merrick, an English aristocrat, who thought James a monster, who hated and loathed him - and who was powerless for her love for him. And in Savannah, there was Mary Knox, fragile and fair, whose sweet face was like a cry in the bitter blackness of James' heart and whose brutish brothers swore eternal revenge on James. And there was Simone Duclos, whom James bought at a slave auction, who had the trimmed down fineness of a thoroughbred and suffered despair and social ostracism to be near him.
Two sons bore James Jarrett's proud name, but it was the youngest, Jarl, whose life was influenced by the dark secrets hidden behind the silent facades of James Jarrett's Georgian mansion. It was Jarl who, as 1776 and the War for Independence drew near, at last learned to hate his own father. Once again, in Jarrett's Jad, Frank Yerby brings to life the color and atmosphere of the American South in the glorious days of its beginning. This is a story charged with blood and fire, with white hot passions and animosities, with strife and warfare and the clash of army against army, family against family, and father against son.
Many women loved James Jarrett. There was Maebelle, a pretty Scottish girl of seventee whose love led her to disgrace. There was Sue Merrick, an English aristocrat, who thought James a monster, who hated and loathed him - and who was powerless for her love for him. And in Savannah, there was Mary Knox, fragile and fair, whose sweet face was like a cry in the bitter blackness of James' heart and whose brutish brothers swore eternal revenge on James. And there was Simone Duclos, whom James bought at a slave auction, who had the trimmed down fineness of a thoroughbred and suffered despair and social ostracism to be near him.
Two sons bore James Jarrett's proud name, but it was the youngest, Jarl, whose life was influenced by the dark secrets hidden behind the silent facades of James Jarrett's Georgian mansion. It was Jarl who, as 1776 and the War for Independence drew near, at last learned to hate his own father. Once again, in Jarrett's Jad, Frank Yerby brings to life the color and atmosphere of the American South in the glorious days of its beginning. This is a story charged with blood and fire, with white hot passions and animosities, with strife and warfare and the clash of army against army, family against family, and father against son.
342 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1959
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76 people want to read
About the author
Frank Yerby
124 books115 followersBorn in Augusta, Georgia to Rufus Garvin Yerby, an African American, and Wilhelmina Smythe, who was caucasian. He graduated from Haines Normal Institute in Augusta and graduated from Paine College in 1937. Thereafter, Yerby enrolled in Fisk University where he received his Master's degree in 1938. In 1939, Yerby entered the University of Chicago to work toward his doctorate but later left the university. Yerby taught briefly at Florida A&M University and at Southern University in Baton Rouge.
Frank Yerby rose to fame as a writer of popular fiction tinged with a distinctive southern flavor. In 1946 he became the first African-American to publish a best-seller with The Foxes of Harrow. That same year he also became the first African-American to have a book purchased for screen adaptation by a Hollywood studio, when 20th Century Fox optioned Foxes. Ultimately the book became a 1947 Oscar-nominated film starring Rex Harrison and Maureen O'Hara. Yerby was originally noted for writing romance novels set in the Antebellum South. In mid-century he embarked on a series of best-selling novels ranging from the Athens of Pericles to Europe in the Dark Ages. Yerby took considerable pains in research, and often footnoted his historical novels. In all he wrote 33 novels.
Frank Yerby rose to fame as a writer of popular fiction tinged with a distinctive southern flavor. In 1946 he became the first African-American to publish a best-seller with The Foxes of Harrow. That same year he also became the first African-American to have a book purchased for screen adaptation by a Hollywood studio, when 20th Century Fox optioned Foxes. Ultimately the book became a 1947 Oscar-nominated film starring Rex Harrison and Maureen O'Hara. Yerby was originally noted for writing romance novels set in the Antebellum South. In mid-century he embarked on a series of best-selling novels ranging from the Athens of Pericles to Europe in the Dark Ages. Yerby took considerable pains in research, and often footnoted his historical novels. In all he wrote 33 novels.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 8, 2021
Frank Yerby es un escritor tremendamente entretenido, no sé cómo, pero se las arregla para meter personajes y hechos históricos entrelazados en la vida de sus personajes en una forma fluida abarcando tremendos acontecimientos.
James Jarrett es un escocés montañés en el año 1715s, su padre decide darle una oportundiad de sobrevivir a la pobreza yéndose con él a Edimburgo cuando tiene 10 años, por diversas razones, James termina siendo acogido por un comerciante donde recibe una fina educación y conoce a su primer amor. Hay una tragedia, y termina marchándose a Londres con la idea de hallar a su padre y comenzar otra vida. De nuevo conoce a otro hombre que le favorece, pero sus fantasmas le persiguen y una herida produce un cambio en él. Finalmente, a instancias de su padre decide irse a America , a la nueva colonia de Georgia.
«Y el futuro era el de un exsalteador, ladrón común y contrabandista. Un hombre que había pagado su pasaje al Nuevo Mundo vendiendo objetos procedentes de robos. Era un criminal que, sobre la base de nuevos crímenes, se proponía crear la grandiosa armazón de su porvenir: su encantadora mansión georgiana, respetabilidad, hijos…»
Los personajes masculinos de Yerby son hombres que no temen ensuciarse las manos, temerosos por su alma, pero dispuestos a hacer lo que sea por conseguir sus objetivos: riqueza y venganza. Son también amantes de las mujeres, y buien amados por ellas. Pero esas mujeres son personajes que siempre esconden secretos, y son desencadenadoras muchas veces de más tragedias de lo que valen la pena.
Así que aqui tenemos en este novela recuerdos del levantamiento escocés jacobino en 1715 hasta las luchas de la colonia inglesa en Georgia que era el límite a la colonia española. Y hay muchas relaciones con el general Oglethorpe y sus luchas por ese asentamiento , asi como sus peleas contra los españolas, hasta finalizar con los inicios de la guerra norteamerica por la independencia de Inglaterra. Bastantes cosas. Oglethorpe tiene la gracia de haber entablado relaciones con los nativos, y de haber prohibido licor y esclavitud en la colonia.
Mientras tanto, James, escocés de falda, lucha en muchas peleas, contrabandea, roba, se enamora a primera vista de Mary Knox, pelea con sus hermanos, y sueña con su mansión de piedra igual a su benefactor en Londres, reniega de fe, aunque no de conciencia y con la continuación de su clan escocés.
Su hijo, sin embargo, representará lo peor de toda lucha civil. La muerte e inicio de un nuevo tiempo.
«—La guerra no es una cosa práctica —dijo el general—. Si los hombres no fueran estúpidos, tendríamos paz perpetua.»
Una novela que se lee de una tirada, y muy entretenida.
---------------------
Frank Yerby is a tremendously entertaining writer, I don't know how, but he manages to get characters and historical events intertwined into the lives of his characters in a fluid way encompassing tremendous events.
James Jarrett is a Scottish highlander in the year 1715s, his father decides to give him a chance to survive poverty by going with him to Edinburgh when he is 10 years old, for various reasons, James ends up being welcomed by a merchant where he receives a fine education and meet his first love. There is a tragedy, and he ends up leaving for London with the idea of finding his father and starting another life. Again he meets another man who favors him, but his ghosts haunt him and a wound produces a change in him. Finally, at the urging of his father, he decides to go to America, to the new colony of Georgia.
Yerby's male characters are men who are unafraid of getting their hands dirty, fearful for their souls, but willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals: wealth and revenge. They are also lovers of women, and well loved by them. But these women are characters who always hide secrets, and are often the triggers of more tragedies than they are worth.
So here we have in this novel memories of the Scottish Jacobin uprising in 1715 until the struggles of the English colony in Georgia, which was the limit to the Spanish colony. And there are many relationships with General Oglethorpe and his struggles for that settlement, as well as his fights against the Spanish, until the beginning of the American war for independence from England. A lot of things. Oglethorpe has the grace to have established relations with the natives, and to have prohibited liquor and slavery in the colony.
Meanwhile, James, a kilt Scotsman, fights in many fights, smuggles, robs, falls in love at first sight with Mary Knox, fights with his brothers, and dreams of his stone mansion equal to his benefactor in London, denies his faith, although not of conscience and with the continuation of his Scottish clan.
His son, however, will represent the worst of all civil strife. Death and the beginning of a new time.
A novel that can be read in one go, and very entertaining.
James Jarrett es un escocés montañés en el año 1715s, su padre decide darle una oportundiad de sobrevivir a la pobreza yéndose con él a Edimburgo cuando tiene 10 años, por diversas razones, James termina siendo acogido por un comerciante donde recibe una fina educación y conoce a su primer amor. Hay una tragedia, y termina marchándose a Londres con la idea de hallar a su padre y comenzar otra vida. De nuevo conoce a otro hombre que le favorece, pero sus fantasmas le persiguen y una herida produce un cambio en él. Finalmente, a instancias de su padre decide irse a America , a la nueva colonia de Georgia.
«Y el futuro era el de un exsalteador, ladrón común y contrabandista. Un hombre que había pagado su pasaje al Nuevo Mundo vendiendo objetos procedentes de robos. Era un criminal que, sobre la base de nuevos crímenes, se proponía crear la grandiosa armazón de su porvenir: su encantadora mansión georgiana, respetabilidad, hijos…»
Los personajes masculinos de Yerby son hombres que no temen ensuciarse las manos, temerosos por su alma, pero dispuestos a hacer lo que sea por conseguir sus objetivos: riqueza y venganza. Son también amantes de las mujeres, y buien amados por ellas. Pero esas mujeres son personajes que siempre esconden secretos, y son desencadenadoras muchas veces de más tragedias de lo que valen la pena.
Así que aqui tenemos en este novela recuerdos del levantamiento escocés jacobino en 1715 hasta las luchas de la colonia inglesa en Georgia que era el límite a la colonia española. Y hay muchas relaciones con el general Oglethorpe y sus luchas por ese asentamiento , asi como sus peleas contra los españolas, hasta finalizar con los inicios de la guerra norteamerica por la independencia de Inglaterra. Bastantes cosas. Oglethorpe tiene la gracia de haber entablado relaciones con los nativos, y de haber prohibido licor y esclavitud en la colonia.
Mientras tanto, James, escocés de falda, lucha en muchas peleas, contrabandea, roba, se enamora a primera vista de Mary Knox, pelea con sus hermanos, y sueña con su mansión de piedra igual a su benefactor en Londres, reniega de fe, aunque no de conciencia y con la continuación de su clan escocés.
Su hijo, sin embargo, representará lo peor de toda lucha civil. La muerte e inicio de un nuevo tiempo.
«—La guerra no es una cosa práctica —dijo el general—. Si los hombres no fueran estúpidos, tendríamos paz perpetua.»
Una novela que se lee de una tirada, y muy entretenida.
---------------------
Frank Yerby is a tremendously entertaining writer, I don't know how, but he manages to get characters and historical events intertwined into the lives of his characters in a fluid way encompassing tremendous events.
James Jarrett is a Scottish highlander in the year 1715s, his father decides to give him a chance to survive poverty by going with him to Edinburgh when he is 10 years old, for various reasons, James ends up being welcomed by a merchant where he receives a fine education and meet his first love. There is a tragedy, and he ends up leaving for London with the idea of finding his father and starting another life. Again he meets another man who favors him, but his ghosts haunt him and a wound produces a change in him. Finally, at the urging of his father, he decides to go to America, to the new colony of Georgia.
Yerby's male characters are men who are unafraid of getting their hands dirty, fearful for their souls, but willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals: wealth and revenge. They are also lovers of women, and well loved by them. But these women are characters who always hide secrets, and are often the triggers of more tragedies than they are worth.
So here we have in this novel memories of the Scottish Jacobin uprising in 1715 until the struggles of the English colony in Georgia, which was the limit to the Spanish colony. And there are many relationships with General Oglethorpe and his struggles for that settlement, as well as his fights against the Spanish, until the beginning of the American war for independence from England. A lot of things. Oglethorpe has the grace to have established relations with the natives, and to have prohibited liquor and slavery in the colony.
Meanwhile, James, a kilt Scotsman, fights in many fights, smuggles, robs, falls in love at first sight with Mary Knox, fights with his brothers, and dreams of his stone mansion equal to his benefactor in London, denies his faith, although not of conscience and with the continuation of his Scottish clan.
His son, however, will represent the worst of all civil strife. Death and the beginning of a new time.
A novel that can be read in one go, and very entertaining.
January 25, 2015
Good ol' Frank! Much the same as in his earlier works. An above-average man (or woman) deals with his/her time in an I-don't-give-a-damn-for-your-conventions style and sees a lot of hell along the way. There is also the eternal triangle. In this work, when the guy finishes saying something, it's "...he growled." When the gal finishes, "...she wailed." Don't fret over it; what makes a Yerby novel fun is the history, not all of it pretty. Here, we take a tour of highland Scotland, Edinburgh, London, then over the water to Savannah with General Oglethorpe, with excursions to Augusta and upper Florida from there. We will also get a delightful glimpse of St. George of Washington and a grim look at Revolutionary War Georgia. Not long before he finished this (late Fifties), Yerby himself moved from his native Georgia to Spain, which may have encouraged his sympathetic look at the "Dons" of old Florida. The tale moves along quite crisply and I thought it hurried toward the end (or maybe I did); but a fun read withal.
December 20, 2013
This was the best Frank Yerby book so far. so much going on on every page, great characters. reminded me a bit of MOTTKE THE THEIF . I EVEN had night mares about it last night. Yes it was very violent and sad.
July 23, 2011
Published in 1959, this was considered to be a really juicy read when I first read it. This is now described as a "vintage romance novel" and is the story of the founding of a great Southern dynasty around the time of the War of Independence. Yerby (1916-1991) was born in Augusta, Georgia of mixed parentage and was famous for being the first African-American to have had a best seller (1946 - The Foxes of Harrow). He left the States in about 1955 as a self imposed exile due to racial discrimination and settled in Madrid, Spain where he died of congestive heart failure. Once again the theme of this book includes love across the colour line. Yerby also wrote short stories and poetry but I think it is in his earlier novels such as this one, that his swashbuckling style comes into its own. It is a compelling but easy read. Frank Yerby is now an inductee into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.
August 9, 2015
absolutely amazing sad and heart wrenching at times but so wonderfully written
December 26, 2025
This was an action packed historical fiction from Frank Yerby, a popular author in the 1940s-1950s. In this particular offering, we follow James Jarret, an impoverished highland lordling as he claws and fights up the ladder of success, discarding ethics along the way. We are also treated to reading about the series of women whom he “loves” and leaves. I put love in quotation marks because he is a selfish character who loves himself only and hurts all the people he purports to love, with the exception of his first son.
James Jarret has one goal in mind, to perpetuate the Jarret clan, even though that means hurting his long suffering and good wife. Unfortunately, Jarret’s only son and heir is killed in a storm and his wife is unable to provide him with more children. After a period of grief, Jarret happens upon the sale of an indentured French woman, Simone Duclos. She becomes “Jarret’s Jade” by providing him with a new heir, young Jarl. Unlike James II, Jarl is sensitive and musical. James Jarret wrecked his marriage and his life only to father a son he didn’t like. Jarl rebels and goes off to fight with the Americans against the Tories in the Revolutionary War.
I didn’t like James Jarret or Jarl either, for that matter. Neither one was heroic, good, or noble. A protagonist who is a fearless fighter and good at combat is not enough for me. But the plot was interesting, so there is that in its favor. I felt the same way about the other novel by Frank Yerby I read, The Foxes of Harrow. I didn’t like those people either, but the plot was interesting.
On a side note, which to me is an important one- Yerby mischaracterizes George Washington. In his eagerness to be a semi-iconoclast, Yerby has his Washington have a reputation for profanity. In one scene, he uses the Lord’s name in vain and roundly curses young Jarl. This is diametrically opposed to what we know about Washington. In 1775, Washington issued general orders to curb profanity among the soldiers in the army, especially cursing God. This is what Washington issued:
“The general is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice hitherto little known in our American army is growing into fashion. He hopes that the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it and that both they and the men will reflect that we can little hope of the blessing of Heaven on our army if we insult it by our impiety and folly. Added to this is a vice so mean and low without any temptation that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.”
I write that Yerby is a semi-iconoclast because after Valley Forge, he depicts Washington as a good and kind man who tenderly treats the soldiers. Yerby also writes very warmly of James Oglethorpe, and although the Wesleys are mentioned briefly, it is not in a positive light.
Recommended for people who like historical fiction set in the 18th century with a lot of action.
James Jarret has one goal in mind, to perpetuate the Jarret clan, even though that means hurting his long suffering and good wife. Unfortunately, Jarret’s only son and heir is killed in a storm and his wife is unable to provide him with more children. After a period of grief, Jarret happens upon the sale of an indentured French woman, Simone Duclos. She becomes “Jarret’s Jade” by providing him with a new heir, young Jarl. Unlike James II, Jarl is sensitive and musical. James Jarret wrecked his marriage and his life only to father a son he didn’t like. Jarl rebels and goes off to fight with the Americans against the Tories in the Revolutionary War.
I didn’t like James Jarret or Jarl either, for that matter. Neither one was heroic, good, or noble. A protagonist who is a fearless fighter and good at combat is not enough for me. But the plot was interesting, so there is that in its favor. I felt the same way about the other novel by Frank Yerby I read, The Foxes of Harrow. I didn’t like those people either, but the plot was interesting.
On a side note, which to me is an important one- Yerby mischaracterizes George Washington. In his eagerness to be a semi-iconoclast, Yerby has his Washington have a reputation for profanity. In one scene, he uses the Lord’s name in vain and roundly curses young Jarl. This is diametrically opposed to what we know about Washington. In 1775, Washington issued general orders to curb profanity among the soldiers in the army, especially cursing God. This is what Washington issued:
“The general is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice hitherto little known in our American army is growing into fashion. He hopes that the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it and that both they and the men will reflect that we can little hope of the blessing of Heaven on our army if we insult it by our impiety and folly. Added to this is a vice so mean and low without any temptation that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.”
I write that Yerby is a semi-iconoclast because after Valley Forge, he depicts Washington as a good and kind man who tenderly treats the soldiers. Yerby also writes very warmly of James Oglethorpe, and although the Wesleys are mentioned briefly, it is not in a positive light.
Recommended for people who like historical fiction set in the 18th century with a lot of action.
October 10, 2017
Read in the 70s
December 17, 2022
I enjoyed this book! It was a fun read.
March 22, 2008
Thanks Mom for recommending it!
August 31, 2010
Tale of a Scottish Lord and the woman he loves.
Read
December 28, 2018very beautiful
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews