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Florida Trilogy #2
Don Juan McQueen
No one captures the drama, the glory, the pure emotion of Southern life and love with the perfection of bestselling author Eugenia Price. Now she returns to a special time and place--post-Revolutionary America--where destiny and history entertwine. The second book in the Florida Trilogy finds a bold woman waiting for her only love by the light of the Georgia moon.
405 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
70 people are currently reading
342 people want to read
About the author
Eugenia Price
85 books229 followersEugenia Price was born in Charleston, WV, June 22, 1916, to Walter (a dentist) and Anna Price. At the age of ten, she decided she wanted to be a writer and entered a poem in her school's literary magazine. She was raised as a member of the Methodist Church, but had left the church behind by the time she graduated from high school, at the age of 15, in 1932. She decided to leave writing behind to follow in her father's footsteps and pursue a career in dentistry. She attended Ohio University for three years, declaring herself an atheist during this time. In 1935, she became a student at Northwestern Dental School, the only woman admitted that year. She studied dentistry for two years, but writing continued to draw her. In 1939, she was hired to work on the NBC radio serial In Care of Aggie Horn. She continued as one of the writers for the show until 1942. She left NBC, going to work for the Proctor and Gamble show Joyce Jordan, M.D. from 1944-1946. In 1945 she founded her own television and radio production company, Eugenia Price Productions, developing other serials for Proctor and Gamble.
In 1949 Eugenia Price underwent a profound life change, giving up her college atheism to embrace Christianity. She considered a career change, but accepted a position with WGN Radio as writer, producer, and director for Unshackled, another radio serial. The popularity of the show led her to a lecturing career throughout the United States and Canada for several years.
Price began yet another career in the early 1950s when she was approached by one of the owners of Zondervan publishing. The 1953 publication of Discoveries Made from Living My New Life, a chronicle of her newfound faith and the experiences that led her to it, launched Eugenia Price into a new career as an inspirational writer. Other inspirational books followed, addresses issues of importance to women and children and other self-help concerns and urging readers away from advances in psychology and analysis and toward a life based on Biblical tenants. Many of her inspirational books are still in print, a testimony to the comfort and empathy many readers found in her works.
Eugenia Price gained a much wider audience though when she began publishing historical romances set in the American South. These novels were praised as "compelling sagas that blend personal stories of love and tragedy. . . with the dramatic events of a region's history." Her first historical romance, The Beloved Invader, was inspired her visit to Saint Simons Island, Georgia and based on one of the island's nineteenth-century inhabitants. The Beloved Invader was published in 1965 and followed by two other romances, New Moon Rising (1969) and Lighthouse (1971), to form the St. Simons Trilogy.
Her historical romances made Price a frequent member of the best-seller lists and brought her millions of readers. Although she continued to write and to publish inspirational works, it was her romances that brought her the greatest attention.
Eugenia Price died May 28, 1996, in Brunswick, Georgia of congestive heart failure and is buried in the Christ Church cemetery, Frederica, GA. Many of her books remain in print and have translated into 17 languages, charming readers of all ages and nationalities. Her manuscripts are housed at Boston University.
In 1949 Eugenia Price underwent a profound life change, giving up her college atheism to embrace Christianity. She considered a career change, but accepted a position with WGN Radio as writer, producer, and director for Unshackled, another radio serial. The popularity of the show led her to a lecturing career throughout the United States and Canada for several years.
Price began yet another career in the early 1950s when she was approached by one of the owners of Zondervan publishing. The 1953 publication of Discoveries Made from Living My New Life, a chronicle of her newfound faith and the experiences that led her to it, launched Eugenia Price into a new career as an inspirational writer. Other inspirational books followed, addresses issues of importance to women and children and other self-help concerns and urging readers away from advances in psychology and analysis and toward a life based on Biblical tenants. Many of her inspirational books are still in print, a testimony to the comfort and empathy many readers found in her works.
Eugenia Price gained a much wider audience though when she began publishing historical romances set in the American South. These novels were praised as "compelling sagas that blend personal stories of love and tragedy. . . with the dramatic events of a region's history." Her first historical romance, The Beloved Invader, was inspired her visit to Saint Simons Island, Georgia and based on one of the island's nineteenth-century inhabitants. The Beloved Invader was published in 1965 and followed by two other romances, New Moon Rising (1969) and Lighthouse (1971), to form the St. Simons Trilogy.
Her historical romances made Price a frequent member of the best-seller lists and brought her millions of readers. Although she continued to write and to publish inspirational works, it was her romances that brought her the greatest attention.
Eugenia Price died May 28, 1996, in Brunswick, Georgia of congestive heart failure and is buried in the Christ Church cemetery, Frederica, GA. Many of her books remain in print and have translated into 17 languages, charming readers of all ages and nationalities. Her manuscripts are housed at Boston University.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
December 13, 2017
Pretty Good
There was so much historic political information, the story got lost and dragged out. But she finished it strong. I am glad I read it.
There was so much historic political information, the story got lost and dragged out. But she finished it strong. I am glad I read it.
February 17, 2018
I really did not like this book at all. I am amazed that I finished it so quickly, but I think I just wanted to get through it. I thought John (Don Juan) was a selfish, boring, awful man. He left his family to deal with his debts and lived away from them for almost 20 years because he didn't want to be imprisoned. He didn't even feel guilty about it. Then he tried to get his son to move down with him away from the family and was upset when he went back to live near his mother and help her. His wife Anne, was no better. To allow her husband to stay away, but I guess in those days women had no choice and had to do what the husband said. It was clear she never wanted to live in Florida, but her husband kept thinking oh she'll change her mind. In the end he died alone, without his "beloved" wife by his side. ugh.
June 27, 2024
I’ve been on a casual quest to re-read Eugenia Price, I’ve finished reading the St. Simons Trilogy and then moved on to the Florida Trilogy. The first book I chose to read was Don Queen McQueen, which I thought was book one of the trilogy, but really Maria is book one chronologically. Price shines in communicating. Each of her characters are invested with so much personality, even when events were griping, such as the pathos that drips from the last three pages in the book. All through the book Don Juan (John) McQueen and his wife Anne are separated, each deludes themselves that they will shortly be united again, but in the height of irony, we realize that will never happen. As a reader, it is powerful to read about real people that lived real lives, and know that the story isn’t a contrived plotline crafted just for effect, but is a clear example of life in all of its mystery.
Eugenia’s book fills in the history of northeast Florida with all the political intrigue, religious intrigue, and people group conflict, struggles, and bloodshed. The time period covered is the closing of the 1700s to 1807, it ends in the twilight years of the occupation of Spanish Florida. We’re not just learning dates and names, but being invited to peek at private conversations and motivations that influenced the times. McQueen was a hero who mingled with the greats of the American Revolution, but he chose to leave family, state, and country to avoid debtor’s prison in Georgia by moving to Spanish Florida. He gained back much in money and land, but also lost a crushing amount (family). It is this aspect that caused me to identify this book as “classically romantic” in the tragic sense. If you are looking for a book dripping with romance, this book is not it. And it is this aspect that pulled my rating down, Don Juan McQueen and his wife Anne, and even all their children were really heartbreaking. Since they were real people, I cannot judge why they made the choices they did, but from my viewpoint, two-hundred plus years later, they seemed like a very dysfunctional family. This aspect of the book was sad. That said, Price can write a book and infused it with historicity like few can accomplish. A good read and worth the time it took to read.
Eugenia’s book fills in the history of northeast Florida with all the political intrigue, religious intrigue, and people group conflict, struggles, and bloodshed. The time period covered is the closing of the 1700s to 1807, it ends in the twilight years of the occupation of Spanish Florida. We’re not just learning dates and names, but being invited to peek at private conversations and motivations that influenced the times. McQueen was a hero who mingled with the greats of the American Revolution, but he chose to leave family, state, and country to avoid debtor’s prison in Georgia by moving to Spanish Florida. He gained back much in money and land, but also lost a crushing amount (family). It is this aspect that caused me to identify this book as “classically romantic” in the tragic sense. If you are looking for a book dripping with romance, this book is not it. And it is this aspect that pulled my rating down, Don Juan McQueen and his wife Anne, and even all their children were really heartbreaking. Since they were real people, I cannot judge why they made the choices they did, but from my viewpoint, two-hundred plus years later, they seemed like a very dysfunctional family. This aspect of the book was sad. That said, Price can write a book and infused it with historicity like few can accomplish. A good read and worth the time it took to read.
September 29, 2024
I loved this book! It’s just history is rolled out in story form. Reading the afterward and credits, I see that Price had researched Don Juan McQueen extensively. In her research was a book of Don Juan McQueen’s letters. So, you can’t criticize the characters, you’re criticizing the real people, known through his letters.
That being said, I think that Price did an excellent job of revealing the personalities of the characters. Some reviewers hated Juan; some disliked his wife. It took a descriptive author to build these strong opinions about the characters.
I was completely annoyed with his wife. He was avoiding jail and had built a very influential life in East Florida. He was a driven man in his accumulation of wealth, his love of East Florida, and his love of his family.
The wife was self-centered and stubborn. Many strong women throughout history have followed their husbands with their children to settle new territories. I’m from that exact area of the country, and I have to say that, to me, she was a society-conscious Southern woman who didn’t want to move into primitive conditions. She wouldn’t even visit him but once. There’s something wrong there.
He had a valid reason for being there. He didn’t want to be incarcerated in a jail or at home. She kept saying she really loved him. I think she was just being stubborn. And she didn’t accept the fact that he was deeply religious in his Catholicism. She didn’t have to be a Catholic. She certainly should have honored his fervent beliefs. She was too self-absorbed and rigid. Her actions didn’t sound like love to me. She was just playing the part of a loving wife. True love means acceptance of the person and his beliefs - not necessarily believing them.
And poor Juan, Jr. gave up his legal career because Momma wanted him to come home and be a planter, which he hated! What kind of mom does that? At that point she should have moved to East Florida. She was awful.
Don Juan McQueen was the eternal optimist. I felt so bad for him for how he was treated by his wife. Even the children greatly loved him and wanted to be with him.
But he did so much for East Florida and always deeply loved his wife and family.
What a sad, lonely life he had.
That being said, I think that Price did an excellent job of revealing the personalities of the characters. Some reviewers hated Juan; some disliked his wife. It took a descriptive author to build these strong opinions about the characters.
I was completely annoyed with his wife. He was avoiding jail and had built a very influential life in East Florida. He was a driven man in his accumulation of wealth, his love of East Florida, and his love of his family.
The wife was self-centered and stubborn. Many strong women throughout history have followed their husbands with their children to settle new territories. I’m from that exact area of the country, and I have to say that, to me, she was a society-conscious Southern woman who didn’t want to move into primitive conditions. She wouldn’t even visit him but once. There’s something wrong there.
He had a valid reason for being there. He didn’t want to be incarcerated in a jail or at home. She kept saying she really loved him. I think she was just being stubborn. And she didn’t accept the fact that he was deeply religious in his Catholicism. She didn’t have to be a Catholic. She certainly should have honored his fervent beliefs. She was too self-absorbed and rigid. Her actions didn’t sound like love to me. She was just playing the part of a loving wife. True love means acceptance of the person and his beliefs - not necessarily believing them.
And poor Juan, Jr. gave up his legal career because Momma wanted him to come home and be a planter, which he hated! What kind of mom does that? At that point she should have moved to East Florida. She was awful.
Don Juan McQueen was the eternal optimist. I felt so bad for him for how he was treated by his wife. Even the children greatly loved him and wanted to be with him.
But he did so much for East Florida and always deeply loved his wife and family.
What a sad, lonely life he had.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2023
History, intriguing storyline and a walk in faith with God.
I enjoy reading historical fiction, especially if I have walked through the streets that the characters walk. Anyone who enjoys Florida, Christian fiction and grasps securely to our Father’s hand will love the storyline’s ending. Those who don’t intimately know our Savior will be given insight into His love for mankind and the opportunity to begin a new life with Him. I pray that acceptance in Christ for all unsaved readers. I rate this book five stars because I learned a lot about the growth of a state that I love…Florida. I loved the Christian viewpoint and knowledge given to Don Juan before his death. That peace, understanding and death to self is a hard lesson for all of us to learn. What inner peace he and his wife gained. Enjoy readers!
I enjoy reading historical fiction, especially if I have walked through the streets that the characters walk. Anyone who enjoys Florida, Christian fiction and grasps securely to our Father’s hand will love the storyline’s ending. Those who don’t intimately know our Savior will be given insight into His love for mankind and the opportunity to begin a new life with Him. I pray that acceptance in Christ for all unsaved readers. I rate this book five stars because I learned a lot about the growth of a state that I love…Florida. I loved the Christian viewpoint and knowledge given to Don Juan before his death. That peace, understanding and death to self is a hard lesson for all of us to learn. What inner peace he and his wife gained. Enjoy readers!
November 25, 2022
I wanted to like this more than I did. I read it with my Riverside Book Club in Florida. It is the second in the trilogy about East Florida just after the Revolutionary War. I learned a lot of Florida history. It is a gentle style and well written but I just couldn't sympathize with either of the main characters. And, they were real people!
May 14, 2025
While I did enjoy book #1 of this trilogy much more, this was a good book to pick up off and on during a busy time of year for me. Don Juan wasn’t my favorite character, but the ending was redeeming. I mostly enjoy the historical aspects of St. Augustine, Savannah, and other areas of Florida. It makes me want to go back to St. Augustine and visit it with new eyes.
March 27, 2019
No quite as good as the first book in the Florida Trilogy, Maria, but, nevertheless interesting about Florida history. I did wish the main character and his wife would finally get together.....that story line dragged on and on!
February 18, 2022
I appreciate a good historical novel. This was not one. The historical parts were terribly dry and monopolized much of the personal story, and the personal story was frustrating and dragged out. Do not recommend.
January 23, 2022
I was a little disappointed in the pace of this book. It seemed to drag on with too much time being spent on the separation of the family. I did find the historical part to be very interesting.
April 15, 2022
This story was fascinating since it was based on regional history of Georgia and Florida that I wasn't familiar with. A good read that follows much of the historical lives of the main characters.
October 9, 2022
Historical fiction, set mostly in Florida in the late 1700’s was interesting but I still slogged through this novel.
March 8, 2024
Amazing Story. History fiction at its finest. But it is based on facts.
March 23, 2024
An excellent read of history, everlasting love, social concerns and growth of a budding nation.
October 10, 2024
insightful and heartfelt
As a new resident of of St Augustine this book has brought so many things into perspective! Joyous to read!
As a new resident of of St Augustine this book has brought so many things into perspective! Joyous to read!
April 23, 2025
I hate to speak ill of the dead but that book was hard to get through it was so boring.
November 6, 2018
Having just been in St. Augustine, I found this book a very-well researched and fascinating history of the town in the very early nineteenth century during the second Spanish period. Most of the characters in the book were real people, and while in the city, I enjoyed walking past or even touring the buildings that had been their homes or places of business. Many of us baby-boomers were taught American history strictly from the New England perspective, but there was much more going on in what is now the USA than just was was happening the in original 13 colonies.
I will add that this book was originally marketed as a romance novel (see the Book Description below). I cannot describe the book as being about “a bold woman waiting for her only love under the light of the Georgia moon”. SERIOUSLY?? The majority of the characters are men working through the tricky politics of trade and conflicts between the Spanish, the native Americans and the infant USA. Published by Lippincott in 1974 and written by a woman, with book jackets depicting darling women and their adoring, manly husbands (illustrations that scream, THIS IS A ROMANCE NOVEL), I think true romance genre devotees would be bored to tears by all the place names, politics and actual historical characters. I, however, loved it and when asked by a delightful young St. Augustine waitress who, upon learning that I am a librarian, wanted book recommendations, I highly recommended this one. Even though it was written well before my waitress was born, Don Juan McQueen makes the city’s history come alive.
I will add that this book was originally marketed as a romance novel (see the Book Description below). I cannot describe the book as being about “a bold woman waiting for her only love under the light of the Georgia moon”. SERIOUSLY?? The majority of the characters are men working through the tricky politics of trade and conflicts between the Spanish, the native Americans and the infant USA. Published by Lippincott in 1974 and written by a woman, with book jackets depicting darling women and their adoring, manly husbands (illustrations that scream, THIS IS A ROMANCE NOVEL), I think true romance genre devotees would be bored to tears by all the place names, politics and actual historical characters. I, however, loved it and when asked by a delightful young St. Augustine waitress who, upon learning that I am a librarian, wanted book recommendations, I highly recommended this one. Even though it was written well before my waitress was born, Don Juan McQueen makes the city’s history come alive.
July 11, 2016
Don Juan McQueen, a larger than life personality from 18th century Spanish East Florida. The second in the Florida triology by Eugenia Price. The history of this time comes alive with the reading of this book. Forced to leave Georgia because of mounting debts from land speculating and betrayal, John McQueen swears loyalty to the Spainsh King and converts to Catholicism, thus taking the name Don Juan McQueen. This novel is the story of a man's faith and loyalty expressed in the background of his renunciation of his American citizenship. He earns the friendship and respect of not only the Spanish governor of East Florida but also British citizens living in East Florida as well as the leading Indian chieftain, Alexander McGillvray. For those interested in Northeast Florida while under the rule of Spain, this is a good read. I enjoy Price's books because they are a good story but made even more enjoyable because you realize there is a "real" person who endured the events and felt those emotions.
January 30, 2014
Don Juan McQueen lived brave and adventurous.
He survived several battles and hardships,
but the greatest hardship he ever come face
to face, is being separated for 16 from
his children and his beloved wife. 16 years
and yet "they miraculously grew together in
love and in faith".
Favorite quotes:
[Anne]
She planned so many things to say.
"I prayed you'd come tonight."
She ran to the dear familiar arms, grateful that their magic still held.
[William]
"They don't have forever anymore."
Favorite letter:
[Second to the last letter sent to Anne]
"Relinquishing you into His hands was agony...
And if I never see your haunting gray eyes again
on this earth, by all means you must keep on believing that
I will love you far more than the temporary pause at the
grave...Please remember me to our dear children...
I am strong now dear Anne...
I dare to sign myself trusting you to smile as you read."
He survived several battles and hardships,
but the greatest hardship he ever come face
to face, is being separated for 16 from
his children and his beloved wife. 16 years
and yet "they miraculously grew together in
love and in faith".
Favorite quotes:
[Anne]
She planned so many things to say.
"I prayed you'd come tonight."
She ran to the dear familiar arms, grateful that their magic still held.
[William]
"They don't have forever anymore."
Favorite letter:
[Second to the last letter sent to Anne]
"Relinquishing you into His hands was agony...
And if I never see your haunting gray eyes again
on this earth, by all means you must keep on believing that
I will love you far more than the temporary pause at the
grave...Please remember me to our dear children...
I am strong now dear Anne...
I dare to sign myself trusting you to smile as you read."
December 3, 2007
Don Juan McQueen had to flee Savannah for economic reasons and was separated from his wife for many years - this is the story of their repeated efforts to reunite in St. Augustine, and their separate crises of faith over his adoption of Catholicism (anti-Catholic views were sadly rampant at the time this story takes place).
August 11, 2011
Beautiful and haunting. So amazing to read as someone who loves Florida, the St. John's River, and St. Augustine. I can see now, through his eyes, what my amazing home state looked like at the end of the 1700s and the beginning of the 1800s and it makes me love it even more.
December 27, 2010
often boring, but neat characters-well played relationship struggle
January 12, 2014
Loved it!
May 22, 2016
Wonderful
Read this series in the 70's . Wonderful to read again and again and again. Can't wait to read third in series
Read this series in the 70's . Wonderful to read again and again and again. Can't wait to read third in series
August 29, 2007
Florida Trilogy Book 2
February 19, 2008
Yes, you'll have to read the rest of the story.
April 22, 2017
When the story opens, John McQueen has moved to Spanish East Florida in order to avoid debtor’s prison in Georgia. He’s changed his name to Don Juan, converted to Catholicism and become a loyal Spanish subject. His family still resides in Georgia. Don Juan makes a name for himself there by working with Governor Quesada attempting to make peace with the local Indians and also learn all he can about border skirmishes with Georgia. As a result of successes, Quesada deeds him large plots of land and Don Juan has become a relatively wealthy man. In all of this, though, he still longs for his family to be able to join him. They want him to return to Georgia. Can a solution be found?
I enjoy historical fiction and this is no exception. It's a way to learn about people and events in history in a fun, relaxing way. This one takes place prior in the 1790's to first years of the 1800's. There are a couple of individuals from her St. Simon's trilogy and the Savannah quartet that make cameo appearances in this one. And I seem to remember that Don Juan is mentioned in those as well. All of her books have likeable characters that you can't help but pull for throughout.
I enjoy historical fiction and this is no exception. It's a way to learn about people and events in history in a fun, relaxing way. This one takes place prior in the 1790's to first years of the 1800's. There are a couple of individuals from her St. Simon's trilogy and the Savannah quartet that make cameo appearances in this one. And I seem to remember that Don Juan is mentioned in those as well. All of her books have likeable characters that you can't help but pull for throughout.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews