« Animal Dreams | Main Page | Wally's Stories »

Cape Cod

*** By William Martin. Historical novel taking place on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Cape Cod is now a tourist mecca on the Atlantic, but it's also very close to where the pilgrims landed in 1620. This book will tell you something of both. This 700 page volume follows two families: the Hilyards and Bigelows, from the landing of the Mayflower to the present day. The families are large, as evidenced by the Bigelow and Hilyard family trees which intimidate you on the first few pages. You will at least meet 85% of the characters on those trees, but you aren't obligated to keep track of more than ten or so at a time, so don't worry. There are two major plotlines (present day, and the historical) that follow the Bigelows and Hilyards as they grapple for land, love, and the log. The captain's log from the Mayflower is a central artifact around which much of the plot turns. Most people think it doesn't exist, but a few of the characters in the book don't agree. The 400 year old log has a huge amount of historical significance, and would fetch a lot of money if found. This is a good, if long, read. I've always had a hard time explaining good historical novels in a way that makes them sound as interesting as they are. Suffice it to say that the fiction and factual parts of the story are both well done, and it kept me turning pages right up until the end. The end was also satisfying, which pleasantly surprised me. If you have read historical fiction and liked it, you will surely like Cape Cod. If you've never read something like it before, the length might intimidate you, but give it a try. As long as you can keep a bunch of characters with the same last names straight, you'll enjoy it.

Posted by Joe on December 18, 2001 08:52 PM