Homing

Williamsburg #7

by Elswyth Thane

This addition to the enormously popular Williamsburg series is set largely against the early part of the Second World War in England during the heroic, nerve-racking years prior to the USA's entry. The author amazingly and convincingly recaptures the mood and tempo of the times, as good a study of British and American morale as can be, the exuberance of spirit in which the challenge and the danger was met. And for the audience that has come to know the Day-Sprague family as familiar friends, with their network of inter-marriages, spanning two countries, this Volume 7 of the series is a most welcome read.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Romance, Historical Romance, World War II, Historical, Americana

295 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Thane is most famous for her "Williamsburg" series of historical fiction. The books cover several generations of a single family from the American Revolutionary War up to World War II. The action moves from Williamsburg in later books to England, New York City and Richmond, Virginia.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my all-time favorite series of books. I love family sagas and this one starts during the Revolutionary War with Dawn's Early Light and concludes with this book covering the first part of World War 2 in England. This one starts with Stephen bringing his English bride home to meet his parents. Evadne is from the English side of the family and not as familiar with all the family stories as her niece Mab is. She is fascinated though slightly disturbed by Mab's resemblance to Tabitha Day, especially since cousin Jeff looks like Julian, but is married to someone else. Upon their return to England, everyone is very careful not to make too much of Mab's fascination. Those worries are overshadowed by the looming war as Hitler starts his takeover of Europe. The historical snapshots of what life was like in England at this time are fascinating as they focus on individual contributions as well as the big picture. Throughout the book there are fantastic stories of the way the British faced the impending war and then the actuality of the battles and air raids, but all with a personal and real feeling. Everyone is affected in different ways and tragedy does not pass them by. I have always loved the way that Mab has never hidden her feelings for Jeff and that everyone accepts it. Even Jeff's wife is aware, but it has never made a difference to the way they deal with each other. When multiple tragedies hit Mab, she and her grandmother Virginia go to Williamsburg, where Mab can begin to recover. It gives a wonderful feeling of the story coming full circle.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whenever I need "comfort reading", I turn to Elswyth Thane's Williamsburg novels, of which Homing, the last in the series, is my favorite. My grandmothers and my mother all read these books before me, and once I went to school in Williamsburg, I picked them up as well. Granted, much of the social views are very dated, but to me that only adds another level to reading these books: how was popular historical fiction reflective of our country's view of its own history in the 1930s/1940s? How do these books tie into the Rockefeller-funded revitalization/recreation of Colonial Williamsburg? And how does all of this relate to America's view of itself as a country in the pre-WWII/post-Depression years?

[Mallory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 5 stars
Update: I love this fictional family and how they just handle things. They don't complain or grumble, don't wish their lives were different than they are. They face the challenges and horrors head-on, embracing the joys and happiness as the moments come. Reading this series five years after I first made its acquaintance was a real pleasure. Different aspects of it meant more to me this time around. It is very of its time, but it is also timeless in many ways.

Favorite quotes: "'The peace,' said Virginia, marvelling at it. 'Not just - no war. The peace of mind, the not wondering about anything, not trying to outguess anything - the feeling that it would all go on forever, like a summer afternoon.'"

"Funny how you get used to almost anything, if it goes on long enough." - Mab Poynter

"That's what comes of peering and prying into God's will. We come up with all the wrong answers." - Virginia Campion

Rating: 4 stars
World War II breaks open over the Continent and England, making this concluding novel the most suspenseful and tension-filled of them all. Mab’s strange attachment to Williamsburg and Jeff Day continues to grow, even as the families prepare for the worst and offer their services in various wartime activities. They have been through so many wars and battles over the centuries, but this one seems to be the most frightening to all, even to head matriarch Virginia Campion. But all do their best, all try to make it through, believing England will prevail even when the bombs come screaming in and London is smoke and rubble, even when they begin to lose some of their own. Amidst tragedy, the pull of the past draws Mab back to where it all began – Williamsburg – and the connections she has felt with it deep inside all her life. This is a series I will definitely revisit; I enjoyed it very much.

Favorite quotes: “The whole visit had been like seeing somebody off on a journey – you think of all the things you meant to say after the train has pulled out.”

“The future was what you could make out of whatever you had left, for it was no longer possible to assume that everything would be the same a year, a month, a week from now. There was only today, and what you already had. Tomorrow might not be so good. Tomorrow, in fact, might not bear thinking of. But today, thought Sylvia, nobody was luckier, nobody was better off.”

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

That is no way to end a series.

[Anna Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't care for this final book in the series as much as the earlier ones. I realized that the first several books in the Williamsburg series actually took place mostly in Williamsburg and in other American cities. The last few are set mostly in England. That made them hard to understand for me at times, because there are just so many terms and phrases that I am not familiar with due to the different country and the time period. I also didn't care for the idea that two of the main characters from the first and second books had been sort of "reincarnated" in this book. Too creepy and silly for me.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 7th and final book of the Williamsburg Series following the Day and Sprague families through 8 generations and 4 wars, the Revolutionary, the Spanish/American, WWI and WWII. The stories have good story-lines that flow well and are compelling enough to care about the characters. The series is about a well-to-due, loving family with strong, heroic personalities, always rescuing someone out of something. At times the stories are rather far-flung and unrealistic that left my eyes rolling. The history is in good balance with the plot. The romance is well done.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had devoured most of the other Williamsburg novels by Ms. Thane. But this one was such a disappointment to me--especially when she brought in the "reincarnation" of a couple of the characters. I just don't go in for that type stuff, and to me, it cheapened the others. I kept the other 6 books in my library, but got rid of this one.

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having invested the time to read all seven books, I'm disappointed in how Thane chose to tie (or rather, not tie) things up too neatly, and that's really all I can say about it!

[Susan Lundberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last in the series, it's supposed to bring the story full circle. How does it do that? Well, it REINCARNATES the original couple. Of course.

We are nominally covering the historic time of the first part of WWII (really just a few years) that are quite eventful for the family. Everyone has war jobs, and they talk about the refugees from different walks of life. In previous books, there were convenient deaths - a girl gets engaged to the wrong man and he dies in battle in the Civil War, fever from another war finally kills off another girl's wrong man, a man's wrong girl dies in an air raid in WWI, and so on. This one has several more convenient deaths, and it's really just tragic.

Again, the cousins who fall in love are STILL creepy, as are the older men who love much younger women. The one reincarnated character is 12 when the book begins, and her preoccupation with her older married cousin is disturbing, but you get the feeling that she'd get over it if the author didn't really love her reincarnation plot. It's a weird way to go, and has kind of ruined the re-read for me. It's the rest of the family that keeps me going. It'll be a while before I read this again.

[Pat Timpanaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the last book in a series I had been enjoying very much. I expected to be sorry to come to the end of this family saga, but this was my least favorite book of the seven and I don't think I'm going to miss reading about the family.

Much of the story takes place in England in 1938 and 1939, with what I thought was just too much detail about the lead-up to World War II. We all know when the bombing on England begins and that there is no invasion, so all the angst over what might happen was just too much. I think the sense of uncertainty and unease could have been conveyed with less detail.

The other thing I didn't like about the book was the woo-woo element of two of the characters in this book being the reincarnation of the original matriach and patriach of the family. Not only was there a more-than-striking physical resemblance, but there was even a comparable age difference. And the modern-day characters would have conversations were they were their colonial-era counterparts.

[Marti Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great conclusion to what I've found to be a very entertaining & educational series of books. Well, so far anyway. I've only been able to get my hands on books #2, #6, & #7 in the series, but they've all been excellent. My only disappointment is that the book ends rather abruptly, before America even enters WWII & long before the characters stories are finished. She does a nice job of coming full circle with the story, but she leaves you with so many questions! It's almost as if her editor gave her a deadline & this was the only way she could have finished it. Even with the abrupt ending, this is a great book & series that inspires more curiosity about history. Can't wait to get my hands on book #1, "Dawn's Early Light"!

[Rose Meiler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always loved the first six books. But the seventh was a disappointment. Thank had her share of unlikeable characters, but she purposefcully made them unlikeable. Hard as she tried, I couldn't find myself liking Man. She was treated as a poor darling. I found her immensely unlikeable and spoiled. Jeff didn't do much for me either. Man should have been told to keep her agonizing to herself. And Jeff was too old to do and say the things he said and did with her. The rest of the men in the family were too honorable to behave this way. Look at Oliver. Poor Sylvia. What a sweet, darling person. Come to think of it, Tibby, dressing like a boy and following Julien to battle was also one of my least favorite characters, also.

[Gaile · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the last book in Ms. Thane's Williamsburg series.It is a swift and easy read, beginning and ending in Williamsburg. The main story takes place in England where the British watch as Hitler over runs Europe and then the blitz begins. Nevertheless the characters continue on with their lives. Ms. Thane slips in re-incarnation as one character remembers the life of a character from the earlier books of the series.
Although usually a series bores me by the fifth or sixth book, this one I found enthralling and well worth reading.

[Carolynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the last of the Williamsburg books, and Thane tries to round things off by bringing Mab back to Williamsburg after World War II. In some ways Mab and Jeff seem to re-embody the heroes of _Dawn's Early Light_, Tibby and Julian. I don't like it as well as _Yankee Stranger_ or _Kissing Kin_, but it makes a very satisfying conclusion to the series. Plus, I'm a sucker for WWII stories.

[Margaret Boling · Rating 3 out of 5]

12/2012 ** This final book in the series has always seemed to end in the middle of the story, however, perhaps now that the characters have come full circle, there's no where else to go. I felt that Thane didn't handle the characters or world evens with quite the deftness that she worked in some of the previous books in the series. Probably time for her to quit.

[Molly · Rating 1 out of 5]

if you're reading the williamsburg series for the first time, do not read this one! too needlessly tragic. yes, the others had tragedy, but this one just ended up seeming nihilistic, especially when you look back on all the others.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great installment in the Williamsburg set. While I don't personally believe in reincarnation, I thought it was a very creative way to tie the first book in with the last other than family ties.

[Sue Suckow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fond memories of reading this series of books with my Mother when I was a teenager. I still own them and they are about to be pulled off of the bookshelf to be re-read again. I'm glad to see that this series has a following.

[CLM · Rating 4 out of 5]

After surviving the Blitz in London, Mab travels to Williamsburg to learn more about her Day ancestors.

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the Williamsburg series, though it did strain my credulity in places. Still, fun to read, steeped in place and deftly done.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very nice end to an excellent series.

[Nancy Mayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good wrap up to the 7 book series....enjoyed all of them

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the beginning of World War II, Mab travels to America with her cousin and visits Williamsburg.


(Working from a list of books I read years ago.)

[Lynn Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this the last in the Williamsburg series. Published in 1957.

[Janna Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not my favorite of the series (that would be Ever After and The Light Heart), but I like it well enough. Honestly, as I've been rereading the entire series, the thing that sticks out to me the most is how many relationships there are that involve cousins and/or huge age gaps. Just for fun, let's make a list.

Weird age gaps:

- Julian and Tibby in the first book (10 year age difference, I think, and they meet when she 12 or 13)

- Bracken and Dinah in Ever After (12 years difference and she's 15 when they meet and he falls in love with her)

- Phoebe and Oliver (10 year gap, but at least she's 21 and he's 31, not quite so weird)

- Camilla and Johnny (I think they're something like 18 or 20 years apart, but she's 30-something when they get together, so again, not quite as weird; it's those man-falls-in-love-with-child ones that seem kind of strange)

- Jeff and Mab in this book (10 years age difference and she's 11 when they meet)

And then for the cousins, seriously, it's ridiculous:

- the Days and the Spragues between the first two books; if I remember correctly, Felicity and Ransom were siblings, who married their 2nd cousins Louise and Lafayette, who were also siblings (the way I said it makes it sound weirder than it is; basically one set of siblings married another set of siblings, and the two sets of siblings happened to be 2nd cousins)

- Then there's Sue and Sedgwick in Yankee Stranger and beyond. They're double 1st cousins (children of the couples above) as well as being 3rd cousins, so they're not allowed to marry but they're in love with each other their whole lives.

- In Ever After, we have Miles Day being in love with two of his cousins. Phoebe is his 2nd cousin and it's assumed they're going to marry, but then he's dazzled by Virginia, who's his 1st cousin.

- In the Light Heart, Phoebe and Miles (2nd cousins) get married.

- Is it possible? Are there no cousins in love in Kissing Kin?? I can't think of any, but don't worry, there's more coming in the next book.

- In This Was Tomorrow, we get Jeff and Sylvia, who are 1st and 2nd cousins, falling in love and getting married. And then there's Evadne, who is supposedly in love with Mark Campion (her 1st cousin) and then later marries Stephen Sprague (a 2nd and 3rd cousin). This is also where Mab is introduced as being in love with Jeff (married to his cousin Sylvia), who is her 2nd cousin once removed and her 3rd cousin once removed.

- That particular relationship (Jeff and Mab) is continued in Homing, and the end of the book implies that they will eventually end up together (Sylvia has died in the London blitz).

Weird, right? Kind of an obsession, I would say, with Elswyth Thane. But if you can look past that weirdness, this series is pretty great. It's one that I always come back to.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final book in the series, it covers the time period from the end of 1938, just prior to World War II, through early 1941. Because it would be difficult to truly understand the characters and their relationships without having read the previous books, the rest of my review is hidden.


It begins when Stephen brings his new wife, Evadne (who is also his second cousin) home to Williamsburg. Evadne notices the resemblance between her young niece Mab, and one of the family's founding mothers, Tibby, wife of Julian Day. In addition, Stephen's cousin and brother-in-law, Jeff Day eerily resembles Julian. And despite Jeff's marriage to Sylvia, there has been a special connection between him and Mab since they first meet. Mab has what seems to be an obsession with Williamsburg, almost like she has been there before.

In England, preparations are being made for the war that everyone knows is inevitable. Even after war is actually declared, the period that becomes known as the "phony war" follows. The various members of the family all have their particular war jobs, except Mab, who has just turned thirteen. Several of them worry about whether they might be cowards or not, but get chances to prove their courage. Naturally there are deaths, after all, this is wartime. As far as I can tell, everything is depicted quite realistically, with perhaps a bit of understatement at times. Fascinating characters in a well developed setting make this an unforgettable novel. Highly recommended.

However, I can't help feeling that there should have been one more book to close out the series. The war isn't over, America hasn't joined in yet, and the story arc that began with Julian and Tibby is not complete.

[Svetlana Stocks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This seventh and concluding book of the Williamsburg series is set in London during the “ heroic and nerve racking years 1938-41”. Quoting from the jacket description,” For those who have never understood what happened in France in the summer of 1940, there may be some answers here, even for those who have never even wondered what happened that left England to face the Nazi onslaught alone”. All of these books evidence meticulous research Thane did on each of the wars that are the setting in all of her books, beginning with the American Revolution. What makes these stories so enjoyable, however, is that Thane also proves herself to be a great romantic story-teller!

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 7th of the novels in Elswyth Thane's Williamsburg septet, which follows the fortunes of the Sprague & Day families from the American Revolution to World War II, is a favorite I discovered in high school. Newsman Jefferson Day, happily married to a Sprague cousin, becomes concerned that he may be fated to be with another cousin, a 14-year old girl who seems to be the reincarnation of his great-great-great-grandmother Tibby Mawes Day, who fought alongside her husband during the American Revolution.

[Mary Hampden · Rating 1 out of 5]

This last book in the series is very interesting about the Second World War but disappointing with the introduction of possible reincarnation. The age difference between Mab and Jeff gives me the creeps. She’s basically a teenager with a crush. How would that relationship ever grow and withstand life’s hard knocks? If I’m rereading the series I skip this one. Others have noted the racism which is unpleasant to read these days but I suppose it’s a good illustration of past attitudes.

[Anne Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet ending

to what I would still consider one of the best series of historical fiction out there. It was hard to say goodbye to some of the characters. I cried but it was all worth it in the end.