WV Stitcher: The Valley~ Helen Bryan

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (July 19, 2016)
Publication Date: July 19, 2016

Left suddenly penniless, the Honorable Sophia Grafton, a viscount’s orphaned daughter, sails to the New World to claim the only property left to her name: a tobacco plantation in the remote wilds of colonial Virginia. Enlisting the reluctant assistance of a handsome young French spy—at gunpoint— she gathers an unlikely group of escaped slaves and indentured servants, each seeking their own safe haven in the untamed New World.

What follows will test her courage and that of her companions as they struggle to survive a journey deep into a hostile wilderness and eventually forge a community of homesteads and deep bonds that will unite them for generations.

The first installment in an epic historical trilogy by Helen Bryan, the bestselling author of War Brides and The Sisterhood, The Valley is a sweeping, unforgettable tale of hardship, tenacity, love, and heartache.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

My take on this book:

I was drawn to this book for two reasons, first this historical aspects really intrigued me, the book takes place while Virginia was still part of the colonies, and the storyline around the tobacco plantation. I grew up on a working tobacco farm so this was an interesting connection for me. With that said I was a bit intimidated by the size of this book, one that I would call a chunkster at over 600 pages, and as I started reading the story I really just couldn't get drawn in immediately, I felt like there was a lot of information that was just filler, and didn't enhance the story. The story did start picking up after many chapters when the descriptions of the journey to the plantation started to pull me in. Overall there were things that I enjoyed about the book, the author did a good job of allowing me to visualize the wilds of Virginia, and the difficulties that settlers faced trying to carve out a home and life in a New Country. Once I was drawn in then I was anxious to find out what would happen. For me it just took too long to be drawn into the story, and to be perfectly honest I probably wouldn't have finished it had I not been given a copy for review. . Overall a middle of the road for me basically because the first half of the book really drug for me. Fans of historical fiction that takes place during the late 1700's just might enjoy this story.

rating 3/5

A complimentary copy of this book was provided for review.

About Helen Bryan

Helen Bryan is a Virginia native who grew up in Tennessee. After graduating from Barnard College, she moved to England, where she studied law and was a barrister for ten years before devoting herself to writing full-time.

A member of the Inner Temple, Bryan is the author of four previous books: the World War II novel War Brides; the historical novel The Sisterhood; the biography Martha Washington: First Lady of Liberty, which won an Award of Merit from the Colonial Dames of America; and the legal handbook Planning Applications and Appeals. The Valley is the first in a planned trilogy based on her childhood stories of ancestors who settled in Virginia and Maryland before Tennessee became a state.

Bryan resides in London with her family.