Deep Summer

Deep Summer is the first book in Gwen Bristow's Plantation Trilogy. These are the days before the Louisiana Purchase, before the Revolutionary War, even, when Louisiana is a wild and untamed swampland filled with Creoles and most especially, critters. Into this strange place go the Sheramys, Puritans from Connecticut who have received a grant from the King of England in thanks for good and faithful service during the French and Indian War. Onto a single flatboat they have packed their New England lives and are floating down the Mississippi calling hello to passing boats, one of which is piloted by the dashing Philip Larne.

Philip is a Southerner, a younger son from South Carolina, determined to carve out the plantation denied him by the laws of primogeniture in the place of his birth. More than that, he is determined to have Judith as his bride, though their temperaments and life experiences could not be more different. Together, though, they face down everything from the American Revolution to yellow fever, slowly building a legacy and a dynasty intended to endure for generations.

Deep Summer is best compared to mind candy. Slightly sweet, a bit airy, it asks very little of reader. In that sense I am reminded of  Mary Alice Monroe's Lowcountry Summer trilogy. The characters are well developed, and generally neither lovable nor laughable nor detestable. It's a breezy read, one I think any lover of historical fiction should love. And, as a lover of historical fiction, I'll also add that it's nice to read historical, southern fiction that's not set in the time of Scarlet and Rhett. I've already begun book two, The Handsome Road.