When Peggy Grahame's father dies she is sent to live with moody Uncle Enos in the (reputedly haunted) family estate. The rumors prove to be true when the ghosts of her ancestors appear to her and begin to relate the stories of their livesin the 1700's at the time of the Revolutionary War.
Richard Grahame was sent to the countryside to track down Peaceable Sherwood, the leader of a rogue group of loyalists. During Richard's many failed attempts to foil the loyalist's plans, he becomes reacquainted with Eleanor Shipley, and the two begin to fall in love. Meanwhile, Richard's sister Barbara grows tired of staying with her aunt in the city and rides out to visit Richard and Eleanor, only to cross paths with the young, dangerous, and entirely too clever Peaceable Sherwood.
Each of the four historical ancestors take turns telling their own parts of the story, and their narrations are undoubtedly the most interesting parts of the book.Their stories are full of spies, battles, secret messages, romance, humor, and acts of bravery.Peggy's own story, in comparison, is shallow and predictable, comprised of an out-of-the-blue love story and a vague mystery.
The contrived ghost angle is used mainly as a platform for telling the other stories. If Pope had simply stuck to the historical fiction instead of burdening it with Peggy's story, Sherwood Ring would have been better overall. As it is, however, the story of Richard, Barbara, Eleanor, and Peaceable is too good to pass up the book altogether. Just don't feel bad if you end up skipping to the good parts.
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Review by Lauren Shearer
Lauren Shearer writes words for fun and profit. She also makes films, but everyone knows you can't make a profit doing that. Her other hobby is consistently volunteering way too much of her time. You can read more of her reviews here.
|
Review by Lauren Shearer
Lauren Shearer writes words for fun and profit. She also makes films, but everyone knows you can't make a profit doing that. Her other hobby is consistently volunteering way too much of her time. You can read more of her reviews
here.
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