Mid-Shore Life

Women of the Chesapeake star in Terry L. White’s Historical Fiction.

CAMBRIDGE –Terry L. White’s Chesapeake Heritage Series is fiction, but the four-book set based on the history of the Eastern Shore from colonization until the end of the Civil War seems totally real. Each of the four novels in the series stands alone, and each features strong women who live on the plantation known as Baron’s Hope.

In Chesapeake Harvest, Mary Charles arrives in the New World as an indentured servant freed from a London jail. Life in the colony means unceasing work under difficult conditions. Death and disease stalk the colony, and it is not long until Mary ends up wed to the man who purchased her indenture. While she does not love William Baron, Mary understands that his goodwill is essential to her survival. Eventually, Mary finds true love and establishes a family who carry her legacy of courage into the coming centuries.

Terry L. White's sweeping tale, Chesapake Harvest, brings us the touching story of Mary Charles. White relates the tragedies and triumphs of Mary's life with heart and authority, but without sentimentality At the same time she illuminates indentured servitude, a harsh and often overlooked institution endured by many of our ancestors. In this page-turner of an historical novel, Mary personifies all the women who nurtured a new way of life in a rugged New World and helped their men establish our country. A. M. Foley Having My Say: Conversations With Chesapake Waterman Wylie "Gator" Abbott and Elliott's Island: The Land That Time Forgot

Chesapeake Legacy is the story of Heron, whose name is changed when her uncle drives her away from Baron’s Hope because she is a child of both the white and Nanticoke Indian cultures. Persons of mixed blood were not welcome in the colonies, which gave the greedy uncle the perfect excuse to deny Hannah Carter her great-grandmother’s farm. Hannah finds a home with the Nanticoke, who are pushed further and further from their homes due to the expanding colonies. Eventually, Heron and her native husband find a home at Elliott’s Island, where they are befriended by John Elliott, founder of the island community.

“Torn between two worlds, Hannah Carter is never entirely a white settler, nor a Nanticoke Indian woman. How she survives is a fascinating story told by a master. White’s historical detail and ability to make a reader care is impressive.” Arline Chase, author of Ghost Dancer, The Drowned Land and Killraven.

Chesapeake Destiny is a tale of the American Revolution, when the colonies fought for freedom from the British crown and the Eastern Shore served as the breadbasket for both. Jane Elliott, Heron’s grand-daughter marries Tom Fitzjohn, the son of her father’s overseer. Jane believes Tom is her true love, but she does not guess his true nature until he takes her away from Baron’s Hope to the plantation he calls Regret. There, she learns Tom is a bully and gambler. He is cruel to his wife and she is relieved when he dies in an accident. She secretly loves a wandering artist who does not seem to return her regard until the end of the war when he admits his role as a spy for the rebels and his love for Jane.

The fourth book in the series, Chesapeake Visions, is the story of Jewel LeCompte. Jewel is an only child, blind from birth. Her closest companion is the slave Tansy, who serves as Jewel’s eyes. The arrival of the Civil War complicates life for Jewel’s family who must learn to live without slaves to do the work of their farm. Not even Jewel is exempt from the toil necessary to support the family and pay the taxes on their farm in the unsettled days after the war. Jewel marries Carroll Taylor, who takes her to his family’s farm Baron’s Hope. Carroll is lost in a hurricane that scours the peninsula, and Jewel must learn to run the farm, even though her father urges her to return to the island and live under his roof. Jewel finds love eventually, but not until Jewel sees how strong she can be – despite her handicap.

Runaway Hearts is Ms. White’s volume of epic poetry, also set on the Eastern Shore. The work features stories of pirates, trappers, watermen and the slave Harriet Tubman who was born near Cambridge and who figures largely in the area’s history.

Ms. White, a formal journalist, said that she loved working on Runaway Hearts and the Chesapeake Heritage Series. “History is often not very interesting, but people love fiction. What could be more natural than to weave the history of the Eastern Shore into stories about the courageous women who lived here as the area was shaped?”

Dawn M. Tarr of Snow Hill painted the covers for the Chesapeake Heritage series. “I just loved the retro look of Dawn’s paintings. She is an amazing young artist,” Ms. White said.

The first three volumes of the Heritage series are in print and available at the Bay Country Shop in Cambridge, at Amazon.com and Kindle, as well as from the author, who can be contacted at terrylwhite@verizon.net. Chesapeake Visions is in the editorial process at www.writewordsinc.com and should be in print by spring.