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Searching for Virginia Dare: A Fool's Errand
Four centuries of powerful myth surround the infant Virginia Dare. Abandoned by England in 1587 and left to fend for themselves in the Carolina wilderness, Virginia and more than a hundred other colonists disappeared, leaving behind only scattered clues about their fate. Some say the Lost Colony survived by joining local Native American tribes. Some say Virginia Dare’s descendants still walk among us. Will we ever really know? Following back roads and cold trails, author Marjorie Hudson stands toe to toe with the bones of English settlers and joins generations of historians, archeologists, and obsessed amateurs in seeking an answer to the What became of Virginia Dare and her family? An unconventional look at history, Searching for Virginia Dare moves from research to reflection, and brings the author face to face with her own life’s journey—the painful loss of a child, and family stories that, as an adult, she is only now beginning to understand. From laughter, to grief, to revelation, Searching for Virginia Dare is a unique narrative about the things that haunt us all. In the tradition of William Least Heat Moon’s Blue Highways, Hudson’s story is a spellbinding journey, an invitation into a deeper understanding of America and ourselves.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
190 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2002
About the author
Marjorie Hudson
6 books91 followersNew: Audio Book available - 50% DISCOUNT THROUGH MAY 20, 2024
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A Native American child burial is found in a cliff by the river, revealing dire Southern history and raising vengeful spirits. Three families' lives are turned upside down - they will not survive the coming storm without joining forces.
"Superb"
—FOREWORD REVIEWS
"Mesmerizing"
—SUE MONK KIDD
“An impressive, sprawling novel about love and hate, life and death, sin and redemption, one worth any reader’s time.”
—SOUTHERN LITERARY REVIEW
“Sparkles with a powerful sense of place ... compelling ... hard to put down.”
—MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
“The best damned book I have ever read.”
—RANA SOUTHERN, BRANCH MANAGER, MT. AIRY PUBLIC LIBRARY
“Spectacular! Everybody read this book!”
—HELEN LITTLE, THE PUBLIC LIBRARY PODCAST, iHEARTRADIO
SIR WALTER RALEIGH AWARD
CROOKS CORNER PRIZE FINALIST
NATIONAL WOMEN'S BOOK ASSOCIATION GREAT GROUP READ
Marjorie Hudson was born in a small town in Illinois, grew up in Washington, D.C., and now writes and lives in Chatham County, North Carolina. She is author of story collection ACCIDENTAL BIRDS OF THE CAROLINAS, a PEN/Hemingway Honorable Mention, and the first book of Ambler County stories, and SEARCHING FOR VIRGINIA DARE, a North Carolina Arts Council Notable Book, both from Press 53.
Hudson's work explores the links between history, the human spirit, and the natural world, and reviewers have compared her work to that of Thomas Hardy and Isabel Allende.
ANDRE DUBUS III says, "This woman writes like a dream!"
Follow her online for updates on events and media and to make a book club visit request.
WEBSITE: www.marjoriehudson.com
FACEBOOK: marjorie.hudson1
INSTAGRAM: marjoriehudsonwriter
TWITTER: @marjoriehudson1
https://www.audiobooks.com/promotions...
A Native American child burial is found in a cliff by the river, revealing dire Southern history and raising vengeful spirits. Three families' lives are turned upside down - they will not survive the coming storm without joining forces.
"Superb"
—FOREWORD REVIEWS
"Mesmerizing"
—SUE MONK KIDD
“An impressive, sprawling novel about love and hate, life and death, sin and redemption, one worth any reader’s time.”
—SOUTHERN LITERARY REVIEW
“Sparkles with a powerful sense of place ... compelling ... hard to put down.”
—MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
“The best damned book I have ever read.”
—RANA SOUTHERN, BRANCH MANAGER, MT. AIRY PUBLIC LIBRARY
“Spectacular! Everybody read this book!”
—HELEN LITTLE, THE PUBLIC LIBRARY PODCAST, iHEARTRADIO
SIR WALTER RALEIGH AWARD
CROOKS CORNER PRIZE FINALIST
NATIONAL WOMEN'S BOOK ASSOCIATION GREAT GROUP READ
Marjorie Hudson was born in a small town in Illinois, grew up in Washington, D.C., and now writes and lives in Chatham County, North Carolina. She is author of story collection ACCIDENTAL BIRDS OF THE CAROLINAS, a PEN/Hemingway Honorable Mention, and the first book of Ambler County stories, and SEARCHING FOR VIRGINIA DARE, a North Carolina Arts Council Notable Book, both from Press 53.
Hudson's work explores the links between history, the human spirit, and the natural world, and reviewers have compared her work to that of Thomas Hardy and Isabel Allende.
ANDRE DUBUS III says, "This woman writes like a dream!"
Follow her online for updates on events and media and to make a book club visit request.
WEBSITE: www.marjoriehudson.com
FACEBOOK: marjorie.hudson1
INSTAGRAM: marjoriehudsonwriter
TWITTER: @marjoriehudson1
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 5, 2014
It's a little quirk that I have: IF I am curious enough to pull a book off of the library shelf, I feel obligated to read at least ONE PAGE before placing the book back on the shelf.
And that is how I came to open "Searching For Virginia Dare: A Fool's Errand" (2002) by one Marjorie Hudson. I admit it: I was smug...who is this writer who DARES to write another book about Virginia Dare? Who is this Marjorie Hudson? Does she really believe I'll give even two stars to another "lost colony" book?
I began to read...
"Let's say there's a scuppernong vine, its trunk the size of an elephant's leg - no, the size of a baobob tree. Its tendrils extend across miles and miles of coastal drift, along sand and even into the water. Bronze globes float in the brine when the tide is gentle, become crushed and pulpy in pounding storms. Let's say it's August, and the Gulf Stream is warm, and it is bringing things to shore that the shore has never seen: gold signet rings, Spanish amphoras filled with wine, the bones of Englishmen. Let's say there's sex in this story, and beautiful virgins, and the root of the vine goes deep beneath the sand to the river of time. And the river of time connects all things, sifts and dissolves all memories of scented vines, all bones, all intentions into one slow moving tide of myth..."
Okay, Marjorie Hudson. That might just be the BEST opening paragraph I've ever read. I've even committed these lines to memory, just in case someone ever asks me "what is the best opening paragraph you've ever read?"
Whoever you are, Marjorie Hudson: you belong up there on the podium alongside Annie Dillard and Rachel Carson, up above Bill Bryson and Jon Krakauer and some of my other non-fiction favorites.
I was delighted to learn that a new 2014 edition of this book (originally published in 2002) is now available. This book needs to stay in print!
And that is how I came to open "Searching For Virginia Dare: A Fool's Errand" (2002) by one Marjorie Hudson. I admit it: I was smug...who is this writer who DARES to write another book about Virginia Dare? Who is this Marjorie Hudson? Does she really believe I'll give even two stars to another "lost colony" book?
I began to read...
"Let's say there's a scuppernong vine, its trunk the size of an elephant's leg - no, the size of a baobob tree. Its tendrils extend across miles and miles of coastal drift, along sand and even into the water. Bronze globes float in the brine when the tide is gentle, become crushed and pulpy in pounding storms. Let's say it's August, and the Gulf Stream is warm, and it is bringing things to shore that the shore has never seen: gold signet rings, Spanish amphoras filled with wine, the bones of Englishmen. Let's say there's sex in this story, and beautiful virgins, and the root of the vine goes deep beneath the sand to the river of time. And the river of time connects all things, sifts and dissolves all memories of scented vines, all bones, all intentions into one slow moving tide of myth..."
Okay, Marjorie Hudson. That might just be the BEST opening paragraph I've ever read. I've even committed these lines to memory, just in case someone ever asks me "what is the best opening paragraph you've ever read?"
Whoever you are, Marjorie Hudson: you belong up there on the podium alongside Annie Dillard and Rachel Carson, up above Bill Bryson and Jon Krakauer and some of my other non-fiction favorites.
I was delighted to learn that a new 2014 edition of this book (originally published in 2002) is now available. This book needs to stay in print!
January 12, 2019
Some of the facts don't line up with some of the other research I've done. (Not sure why... maybe it's just outdated information?) But I did enjoy how the author took the liberty of telling certain events like a story. It made the people and history more real.
December 10, 2019
Weird and boring. The whole book was rambling and I didn’t know anything more after the last chapter than I did after the first chapter.
June 9, 2015
This book was a chapter away from "What a Classic!" before the author veered off the path of very good light popular history into not very likable and not very good personal intrusion into the history. This insertion of the author into the story cheapens the story and detracts from the mystery of Virginia Dare.
Just a warning that my opinion about the inappropriateness of this brand of "its all about ME ME ME" new New Journalism is not shared by the preview critics of the book. Of course, cover quotes are chosen for their glowing praise not their trenchant criticism, but still--apparently some not so old and cynical and (perhaps?) male truly didn't find the ending of the book distracting.
Forget about that, though. As a new-born native of North Carolina, I found the invocation of local history and surroundings fun and informative. The section on the Lumbee Indians and their possible link to the English settlers (among them new-born American native Virginia Dare) lost on Roanoke Island was especially interesting since Tess spent a week there this summer with a group from our church's youth group on a short-term mission trip.
Just a warning that my opinion about the inappropriateness of this brand of "its all about ME ME ME" new New Journalism is not shared by the preview critics of the book. Of course, cover quotes are chosen for their glowing praise not their trenchant criticism, but still--apparently some not so old and cynical and (perhaps?) male truly didn't find the ending of the book distracting.
Forget about that, though. As a new-born native of North Carolina, I found the invocation of local history and surroundings fun and informative. The section on the Lumbee Indians and their possible link to the English settlers (among them new-born American native Virginia Dare) lost on Roanoke Island was especially interesting since Tess spent a week there this summer with a group from our church's youth group on a short-term mission trip.
November 28, 2011
I like nonfiction like this, which combines memoir and history as the author discovers her own story while searching for someone else's. Add in the legend of Virginia Dare, the first English child born on American soil whose entire colony went missing in the Outer Banks off North Carolina in the late 1500's, and you have a pretty good read. I enjoyed this a lot.
February 19, 2010
This was one of the best books I have ever read. It is a perfect mix of history and personal experience, wrought with emotion and insight. As the author explores what might have happened to the Lost Colony and Virginia Dare, she unearths more about herself that is easy to relate to. I should probably pick this book up and read it again.
January 17, 2012
Another one about the mystery of the missing Roanoke Island colonists. In this one the author tries to tie in her own personal history, and that part of it is a little incoherent and unsatisfying. But she summarizes some of the many theories about the colonists' fate well...
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews