Patriot's Dream

by Barbara Michaels

Jan Wilde's much-needed vacation in Williamsburg, Virginia, is anything but restful. Here in this historic restored colonial village, her sleep is invaded by strangers from two centuries in the past. They seem so close, so real—and when Jan awakens in the morning, their lives and loves and the secret they share shadow her very existence. The only way Jan can ever be free is to seek the truth . . . in her dreams.

Genres: Mystery, Gothic, Fiction, Romance, Historical Fiction, Supernatural, Suspense

396 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Barbara Michaels was a pen name of Barbara Mertz. She also wrote as Elizabeth Peters, as well as under her own name.

She was born in Canton, Illinois and has written over fifty books including some in Egyptology. Dr. Mertz also holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Egyptology.

Reviews

[Eliza Baum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I stuck it out with this book in the hopes that it would turn around and ultimately surprise me with an ending I liked, but no such luck. I wasn't particularly fond of the overabundance of history from the start. I felt like I'd gone back to the boring-est of boring American history lessons from high school or college. Toward the middle, I started to be able to ignore that, because I liked Jonathan's story so much. I, like the main character, wanted to help him and see him be happy and all that. I was intrigued by the twists and turns of his life, and most especially by his friendship with Charles.

But then. Jan chose that asshole Alan (Like she had to choose a husband after two weeks??? I mean, I realize this book was written in the seventies, but damn.), and Jonathan married Mary Beth (Charles' betrothed, that neither of them actually wanted) only to be poisoned by her when he got older to keep him from freeing their slaves on his deathbed. *sigh* That ending made the whole thing not even worth it. It's getting two stars instead of one just because I love Barbara Michaels, and because there were enjoyable bits in the middle.

[Lisa Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a timely novel. If you have an interest in the Revolutionary War or in Williamsburg (I have been and really enjoyed it and would love to go again with this novel in hand next time) you will like this one. Michaels is so intelligent that she manages to take one gothic novel and weave mystery, suspense, theology, the occult, history, psychology, and philosophy into it. this was written during the bicentennial year of our country.

I recommend it to all patriots. Seriously, it will inspire you and encourage you to never give up in making this nation a place of justice and equality.

[J.L. Rallios · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Barbara Michaels, one of my favorite writers. Patriot's Dream definitely is not one of her best. It has its merits -- great writing, historical detail, interesting characters, humor, and vivid descriptions -- and these things I can always depend on finding in her stories. But it's the content that is lacking in this story. Also, there's very little suspense or tension in an already weak story line. What tension there is in the story feels manufactured, or superimposed, as if the author knew she had to pep it up a bit. Recommended for Michaels' fans and for those who love history -- lots of it. I found it quite educational without feeling like I'm in school. In my book that's a good thing!

[❀⊱RoryReads⊰❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Star

Pretty good. Not my favorite Barbara Michaels though as the romance seems forced.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A conversation about books led me to re-read this Barbara Michaels novel that I first read in the bicentennial summer of 1976. It stands the test of time. The protagonist is a disillusioned young teacher who has gone to spend the summer with her elderly great aunt and uncle in Williamsburg, Virginia. The couple live in an historic home on Duke of Gloucester Street. They have sold the house to the Williamsburg Foundation in exchange for being allowed to live their lives out there. When their elderly housekeeper breaks her leg, they invite their young relative to come stay with them in exchange for cooking and cleaning duties. Jan has had an emotional breakdown and needs to "get away" from New York, her job and her mother, in that order. In Williamsburg, she quickly attracts three young men: a violin maker, a doctor and a lawyer, referred to by her great aunt as her "beaux."She also begins to have alarmingly detailed dreams about the residents of the house from the summers of 1775- 1781. Details of colonial life, political life and Revolutionary War life begin to haunt her night after night and she becomes obsessed by the fates two young men who lived two hundred years ago.

[Shirley (stampartiste) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I believe this is the book I had read in the late 1970s while I was living in Williamsburg, Virginia and working for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. I remember enjoying it at the time (because the setting was where I lived and worked every day), but the book has either not aged well or I have become more discerning of good literature. This book left me with a sense that Barbara Michaels (pen name for Barbara Louise Mertz) wrote this book to cash in on the enthusiasm surrounding the Bicentennial celebrations in Virginia in 1776. The plot was thin, the characters two-dimensional, and the protagonist (Jan Wilde) very unlikeable. If I did not have a personal interest in this book, I would not have finished it.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the dialogue and relationship between two of the characters, Johnathan and Charles. Its been years since I've reread this book about a time travelling bicentennial visitor to Colonial Williamsburg. Not bad. Sometimes you just need to sit down and relax with a good Barbara Michaels!

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure exactly what it is about this book that touches me every time I read it, but it does so every single time. Michaels' books are always a fun read, but this one is a stand out. Still one of my top 5 books, and still 5 stars!

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one is one of my favorites of Barbara Michaels so far. I loved the history dream mixed in. Made it very interesting to read!

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a light and fun one-day read. It was written in the 70's but by reading it you would really never know. This novel was set in current time with flashes into the past and the revoultionary war. This book deals mainly with slavery issues, and I actually ended up learning somethings while reading it.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Williamsburg, VA has always been a highly romantic place for me. Almost Five years ago I spent my Honeymoon there (my parent’s also Honeymooned there). I’ve spend several vacations combing the colonial streets and I have yet to grow tired of it. Reading this book is like going back to one of my favorite places but seeing it like it had been, not like it is now. For that alone I loved this book.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of her better books. A modern vistor to Williamsburg VA, Jan becomes involved in dreams of revolutionary Williamsburg. The dreams become more real and Jan becomes move deeply involved in the lives of Revolutionary patriots.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very different book by Michaels. Obviously written during the Bicentennial, the alternation between the past and present suffered by the really good story in the past juxtaposed with a weaker "present story." I'd have to be in the right mood to re-read this one.

[Rhonda Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relaxing Read

Barbara Michaels never fails to offer a brief, entertaining escape from the trivialities of everyday life. Her main characters come to life as familiar friends, and her paranormal mysteries are elegantly laced with wit, humor, and romance.

[Leo Scanlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Fascinating.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable reading, the story flips between 1976 and 1776 so it was fun reading this after having ready "John Adams" by David McCullough.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books.

[Rosario · Rating 4 out of 5]

This past weekend seemed like a very appropriate time to reread this book by one of my favourite authors which I'd last picked up over 20 years ago. It was first published exactly 50 years ago, when the US was turning 200, and its dual timeline was a nice way to commemorate the occasion.

I've put the review I wrote at the time below, and I mostly feel the same way about it now, down to the grade I gave it at the time, a B+. I particularly appreciated what I noted then about the balance between the admiration for the heroism and idealism (in certain aspects) of many of the people involved and the way that those lovely dreams and ideals were intended only for certain people. Having slavery play such a large role in this story probably would have felt like A Choice at the time, and it's such choices that are the reason why I can still happily read even the oldest books by Michaels without wincing every couple of pages.

This time around I was maybe a bit less enthused by the modern-day sections. Jan felt a bit flimsily-drawn, and I wish we'd got to know her a little bit better. But I still enjoyed this book a hell of a lot, and I'm glad I reread it.

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Original review, from 2005:

Jan Wilde came to Williamsburg, Virginia, for a much-needed vacation. But her dreams at night were far from restful... Night after night, a stranger called to her, reached out to her from two centuries past, fueled by the fires of war and the fury of passion. He seemed so real, so close -yet by morning, he was just a memory. Who was this lover from the past? Only Jan's dreams could reveal the truth.

This is a bad blurb, it makes it sound as if there's a romantic link between Jan and this dream man of hers. The dreams are much more than that: in them, she follows the life of a group of people in the years before and during the American Revolution. She becomes especially attached to one of these people, Jonathan, the pacifist, the radical, the idealist, but I didn't perceive anything sexual about it. She did care (and passionately) about him, but this is no romance-caught between-time kind of thing. Anyway, I really enjoyed Patriot's Dream. I'd give it a B+.

The book goes back and forth between Jan's life, vacationing with her great-aunt and uncle in Williamsburg, and, through her dreams, Charles and Jonathan's time, starting in 1774. Both parts are fascinating, and whenever I'd reach the end of a chapter I'd wish I could stay in that time, right until I got caught up in the next chapter and felt the exact same way when I reached the end of that one!

I was especially interested in the parts set in the past, basically because while I do know the rough facts about the American Revolution, it was all mostly new to me. I suppose it would all be much more familiar for the book's intended American audience, but history lessons in school here focus on Uruguayan history. I know all kinds of details about the Uruguayan fight for independence (or rather, to rejoin the United Provinces), but what I know about the American Revolution is a couple of history lessons in high school and whatever I picked up from fiction books.

So, while I'm not taking this as a serious history book, I was fascinated by the glimpse I got here into that particular moment. And I especially liked that while Michaels obviously admires many of the men involved and what they did, she has a very clear-eyed and unromantic way of looking at things. Her vision of the times isn't idealistic, and she accepts and points out the inconsistencies in things like fighting for lovely ideals like liberty and at the same time keeping slaves.

The parts of the book set in the present were wonderful, too. I enjoyed Jan and her relationship with her relatives, and I really liked the romance. She has a couple of candidates, but no one who's ever read this author would ever doubt who she'll end up with.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the chapters that took place in the past, during the revolution. I didn't enjoy the chapters that took place in the main character's present: 1976

Jonathan and Charles were a tragic friendship story that can be compared to the love story of Tristan and Isolde. It wasn't romantic, obviously, they were only best friends, but the plot and way Barbara made their characters inspires some bitter-sweet emotions concerning the end of their story.

Barbara, through her characters, makes some interesting historical points. Our nation's beginning and path to independence and freedom was not without flaws, tragedy, and hypocrisy. There were heroic moments and people, but there were many people and events that were not so. And underlying it all were valid and very real difficulties and betrayals that frustrated our heroes and made the best men (and women) weep and wonder if any of it would be worth it. It is hard to truly comprehend these events because we weren't there, and we didn't live it. Only our ancestors know.

[Mary Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Jan is herself again...mad and mean."

That pretty much sums up our protagonist. The story required her, perhaps, to be disillusioned, but she really was a thoroughly unlikable b*tch, which made the book a bit of a slog right off the bat.

I'm a lover of history, so the Revolutionary War angle of the book was right up my alley. The bulk of the 18th century story, though, was still pretty dry and I wonder how readers with no interest in the period got through it. Michaels was obviously swept up in the bicentennial fervor, and hoping to cash in on the excitement of the time. She certainly showed no signs in her writing of being enamored with our country's history or its founders.

Jan's romance was predictable, but painful to experience. The secondary romances were much more interesting, perhaps because she wrote so little about them.

It's been a few decades, but I remember enjoying Barbara Mertz books in the past, writing also as Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. Based on Patriot's Dream, I doubt I'll bother with any others going forward.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very....slow and dry before it got interesting. I was interested in the odd story about the young woman in the present (Jan) going to live with her elderly aunt and uncle where her ancestors had lived and then dreaming about the people who lived there 200 years before. It was like a ghost story only she was real and watching the past from 200 years in the future from her dreams.
The story flipped from the past to the present so both stories were intertwined. I have to say I was bored to tears for most of the book and had to make myself just sit down and read it. I tended to only read one chapter at a time before wandering off to do anything else. I finally got into it and finished the rest much faster than the first part. I love stories about family genealogy and this one had an interesting twist BUT I think it could have been better. I knew almost from the start who the main character would end up marrying. I've read too many BM's books to be surprised.

[Kati · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing much to say other than Patriot's Dream probably has to be Michaels' most boring book. The two timelines are fine, but the 1776 timeline takes up too much time. I didn't really want a history lesson. The 1976 timeline didn't have enough meat to get to know the characters or be invested in Jan's romance.

I did appreciate Michaels bringing up Jefferson's family with Sally Hemings and that the great men that founded a revolution were also human with all the foibles that exist in mankind. That it was in 1976 and we are still having these same discussions almost 50 years later shows that nothing changes despite dialogue to the extreme.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this years ago but just spotted it on my bookshelf and remembered I hadn’t rated it. Interesting book with lots of Revolutionary War history with a slight supernatural twist. Young woman in 1976 is visiting her aunt and uncle in Williamsburg VA, and begins having elaborate dreams of two young men in 1776 Williamsburg. Deals with some of the stains on our country’s beginning (ie slavery). Loved the friendship between Jonathan and Charles.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun and sweet read. Bought this book while visiting Williamsburg, VA. We had a great vacation and reading this book set in 1976 Williamsburg and revolution era Williamsburg was a great way to extend the vacation and add more color to everything I learned.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply one of the most entertaining books I've ever read!

I've read all of Barbara Michaels books, & Patriots Dream is one of my favorites. A great mystery story with a twist of the supernatural thrown in as Ms. Michaels does so well. You won't be able to put it down.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young woman visiting her aged aunt in Williamsburg and staying in her ancestors home begins to dream about it’s past inhabitants. Soon they become real to her and more important than the present day. An interesting read.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever device

The author did an excellent job imagining how people might have behaved during the American revolution in Virginia. Using Jan’s dreams to connect her to the past was a clever device.

[Mary Stenvall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one, as I am a fan of Barbara Michaels, who is also Elizabeth Peters, who I am a huge fan of, also. In my opinion, this was not one of her best, although American History buffs will probably like it a lot.

[brightredglow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it. Some language is outdated but I really like how the characters are all on the sliding scale of grey. None are particularly likable or unlikable. Michaels does like to go into the weeds a bit too much, but I enjoyed the meandering myself.

Solid 4-star for me.

[Lisa Shower · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lifelong favorite of mine!

No matter how many b times I have read this book it always pulls me in. I have read it off and on for nearly fifty years now. Bravo!