A Durable Fire

by Virginia Bernhard

Battling for survival in the primitive colonial outpost of Jamestown, Virginia, a recent widow finds solace in the bed of her late husband's best friend while suffering--with the other colonists--starvation, cruel winters, and a possible Indian massacre

Genres: Historical Fiction

412 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1990

About the author

Virginia Bernhard (B.A., Rice; M.A., University of Pennsylvania; Ph.D., Rice) is Professor Emerita of History at the University of St. Thomas. Born in Austin, Texas, she grew up in Houston, attending Lanier Junior High School, San Jacinto High School, and Rice University. After graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania she returned to Houston and earned a Ph.D. in history at Rice. She lives in Houston, Texas, is married to Jim Bernhard, actor/writer, and has three grown children.

Awards and honors:
• Katherine Munson Foster Memorial Award for Literature, Brazos County Historical Museum, 2014
• B.K. Smith Lecturer in History, University of St. Thomas, 2011.
• Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Academic Achievement, 2003.
• Texas Historical Commission Award, Best Local History Publication, for Ima Hogg:The Governor’s Daughter, 1984
• Woodrow Wilson Fellow 1960-61.
• Phi Beta Kappa, 1959

Reviews

[Virginia Bernhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course I like it! I wrote it! And I wrote it because I wanted to read it. Jamestown, Virginia, with its grim stories of cannibalism, etc. has always fascinated me. The novel is based on that history, with a few fictional characters added to the real ones. People whose lives were forever changed by coming to America in the early 1600s. It's a story of betrayals, violence, and love found--and love lost.

The best news about A DURABLE FIRE is that it is going to be reissued early in 2014, as JAMESTOWN, THE NOVEL; The story of America's beginnings.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulous book--I learned so much about the Jamestown colony and Pocahontas. I wish Virginia Bernhard wrote more historical fiction.

[Mike Shoop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love this novel about the early years of Jamestown and colonial Virginia, probably the fifth time I've read it since its publication in 1990. The author does a wonderful job of sifting through the facts from contemporary accounts and using them in her narrative, along with creating a plausible fictional story around real characters who actually lived during that period, most particularly Sir George Yardley and his wife Temperance Flowerdew. Betrayal, greed, romance, violence, starvation, cannibalism, it's all here. The narrative covers the tenuous settlement at Jamestown, the horrors of the "Starving Time," the wreck of the "Sea Venture" (which may have inspired Shakespeare to write "The Tempest"), the stories of Pocahontas, John Smith and John Rolfe, relations with Powhatan and Opechancanough, martial law under Sir Thomas Dale, the beginnings of enormous fortunes made from tobacco, the first blacks brought to Virginia in 1619, and the Indian Massacre of 1622. Bernhard writes well, telling the story chronologically, and she gets the history right. Her romantic triangle involving Temperance, George, and George's friend Will Sterling (fictional character) is well done and is incorporated into the major events of story quite believably. It is still the best historical novel about Jamestown and the early years of colonial Virginia that I have ever read. Highly recommend it.

[Bamboozlepig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, this started off fine, but then lost steam at the halfway point. Temperance couldn't decide between Will and George and that whole angle just hit the "make up your frickin' mind" point for me. There's a lot of characters to keep track of as well. Still, it was an interesting historical read. I'm just not that much into pilgrim smut, I guess.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading historical fiction. I always learn something new, and I usually end up going to the internet to find what historical facts I can find, without the fiction. Well written historical fiction adds real people to the dry facts. It is especially enjoyable when the facts have been supplied by the journals of the real people involved. When I got to the part of the story that detailed cannibalism, I was surprised. I really didn't know much about the 1607 Jamestown settlement, and I thought I would have heard of cannibalism if it had occurred there. A quick internet search revealed that in May of 2013, hard evidence was discovered, to prove the stories of cannibalism at Jamestown.

Bernhard spares no details, no matter how gruesome. She did a superb job of telling the stories of both the Indians and of some of the settlers. I wish she would write more historical fiction.

I am descended from three settlers of the Mayflower’s 1920 Plymouth Colony; a few of the settlers who arrived in 1630 to plant the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and also from some of the first white settlers of Nantucket Island. The differences between the colonies are quite astounding, and endlessly interesting. I have searched in vain for a novel of similar quality about the Pilgrims. They all seem to be written for children or YA.

Thank you, Ms. Bernhard for a fascinating look at early Jamestown. I thoroughly enjoyed your book, and found it difficult to put down.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched novel about the first difficult years in Jamestown colony. I found it especially interesting since one of the main characters, Gov. George Yardley, had dealings with my ancestor, John Reddish. (My ancestor got his servants drunk and was then sentenced to the stocks.) Reading this book helped me understand just how difficult life was for our earliest ancestors.

[MaryAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having recently made a trip to Jamestown, I wanted to read more about it. This novel is well-written and well-researched, and, while not easy to read because of the horrific details of what the Indians and English did to each other, helped me understand much more about the early history of the area and its settlements.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a great surprise. Set in the 1600's, it is the story of the early settler's of Jamestown, etc., using characters who really existed, as well as others who did not, and telling the story with what appears to be historical accuracy for the most part. I enjoyed it very much.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book about the Jamestown settlement. I did not realize how many hardships the settlers encountered during the first few years of living in the United States. This is a must read for anyone who would like to learn more about America's early history.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good historical novel about the founding of Jamestown.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book about Jamestown, and an interesting way to add to your knowledge of the time.