Of Dreams and Nightmares is a historical romance taking the reader on a journey from the English aristocracy to the trials and tribulations of pioneer life. Martha McGuire’s arranged marriage to Jebediah Whittaker turns her life into her worst nightmare. Calamity follows, leaving her alone with a devil of a man and his three sons in a vast wilderness of Wyoming and then eventually to St. Louis. Will hero Austin Wells find her and rescue her from her nightmare. How does brother-in-law Jeremy fit into the scenario? Can she ever find true and lasting love?
Excerpt from Chapter two:
The night of the escape came in a blanket of fog. Darkness descended over the anchored ship and the taste of salt was heavy in the air. As she crept out on the deck, her small bag containing only a few possessions in hand, she took her position behind the post as arranged. She thanked God for bringing this heavy fog to hide her escape. Jebediah and the boys had been sound asleep when she crept from the dark cabin. Martha was to wait until Richard signaled her from the dinghy, then they would lower the boat and escape into the night. She pulled her cloak tightly around her to ward off the damp night air. Her body shivered with anticipation. After what seemed like hours, but was in fact only minutes, a small flicker of light appeared. Her heart was pounding; her palms wet with nervous perspiration. She pulled the cloak over her head and advanced quickly to the small boat that would be her salvation. At last, I will be free, she thought as her feet connected with the wooden deck; each step moving her closer to freedom. Coming from behind, she could see that Richard was swinging the brilliant necklace back and forth. This was no time to be admiring his newfound wealth; perhaps she should not have given it to him until she reached the shore.
As Richard turned towards her, Martha gasped in horror. There in front of her, holding her mother’s necklace was Jebediah Whittaker, looking like the devil himself.
“Going somewhere, Martha?” he sneered. “You know, when your father agreed to include your hand in marriage for the land that he wanted desperately, he warned me you were high spirited. I’m afraid we’ll have to break that spirit, my dear Martha.” she lunged for her mother’s necklace, but Jebediah just laughed putting it in his waistcoat. He threw the seaman’s hat he had been wearing to the deck. “Come along, Mrs. Whittaker,” he snarled as he roughly gripped her arm and propelled her forward. “There will be no escape for you. You will not embarrass me or cause me any further problems. After this night, Martha, you will know who is in charge here.”
Four weeks later, Mr. and Mrs. Jebediah Whittaker and the three young Whittaker boys, arrived in the colonies.
Excerpt
A gentle dusting of snow settled on her purple cape as Martha’s carriage approached the manor house. She adjusted the wool tartan blanket around her legs, feeling quite warm in spite of the late night chill. The horses’ hooves made a steady clopping sound as they contacted the frozen ground. The air was crisp and cold.
“Going to be a cold night, Miss,” stuttered Clyde, the hunched wrinkled coachman, snowflakes alighting on his hat and shoulders. “Reminds me of the night you and that young scallywag, Austin Wells took off when you was twelve to spy on the folks at that fancy ball.”
Professional Reviews
Highly Recommended
Book Review: Of Dreams and Nightmares by Shirley A. Roe
Reviewer: Mary Jesse
Date: May 2004
Latest Novel by Shirley A. Roe is Highly Recommended
“Of Dreams and Nightmares” by Shirley A. Roe is a wonderfully entertaining story that follows the triumphs and disappointments of a strong-willed woman named Martha McGuire. Martha is abruptly forced to grow up and leave her privileged life living on an English estate to travel to America under somewhat less than comforting circumstances. She experiences much violence, intimidation and pain before climbing out of darkness to tap the strength she always had inside.
From page one the book carries the reader back in time to England and America in the 1800s for a consistently interesting and entertaining tale filled with contrasting emotions like love and hatred, fear and courage, and hope and despair. Many historical details of life in the 1800s are articulated throughout the story which add depth and dimension like blended spices in well-cooked dish. Although there are several diverse settings and many key characters, they are all artfully developed and portrayed with much ease. Author Shirley A. Roe has clearly demonstrated her immense talent for storytelling with her most recent novel, “Of Dreams and Nightmares.”
Romance with a constant sense of Optimism!
Of Dreams and Nightmares
by Shirley A Roe
Young English girl Martha is forced into a marriage by her thoughtless father as part of a land deal. Whisked away to the Americas by her cold and violent new husband, she endures great hardships and abuse. Throughout this ordeal her only lights are her newly acquired stepchildren, whom she at first scorns. However she eventually grows to love them and matures into a strong woman. Realising his error, her father sends an old childhood friend named Austin and her husband’s brother Jeremy Whitaker to rescue Martha, leading to prospective romance and adventure in the rough and dangerous new Americas.
The book is largely divided into two parts - the first being Martha’s ordeal with her violent husband - and the second concentrating on her healing process and assertion of independence in a predominantly patriarchal society.
Ms Roe creates a colourful picture of the privileged English in contrast to the hardships of Colonial America. All in all it is a lighthearted and entertaining read, and although it contains serious subjects such as abuse and the rape of young Martha, which is revealed initially only as a flashback, it never becomes heavy or oppressive. It’s full of romance and with a constant sense of optimism.
Reviewer: Jacqui Granford, Australian author.
Aristocrat to Pioneer!
Review: Maria Romero, Betsie’s literary page, author of Caleng and the Moonstone Pearl.
Title: Of Dreams and Nightmares
Author: Shirley A. Roe
Publisher: pending
Genre: Historical Romance / Series
ISBN: pending
Rating: Highly Recommended
Aristocrat to Pioneers, and blazing trails into the Western hills
Within the social lands of England, Martha McGuire, an impetuous, stubborn young woman and at the tender age of eighteen is forced by her father’s hand to marry a much older man, Jebediah Whittaker. Jebediah is a widower, as well as the father of three young boys: Ezekiel, Abraham, and Isaac.
Unbeknown to all that just beneath the surface, is a ruthless and despicable man who aims to destroy Martha.
Jebediah, having pulled off the deal of a lifetime takes his new unwilling bride and children and board The Salvation. The ship sails across the Atlantic Ocean for weeks, bound for the Americas, a voyage that reveals Jebediah’s true, horrific intentions.
The Whittaker’s’ journey continues as they leave the east coast joining a wagon train of immigrant homesteaders, moving west. For these souls no longer a paradisiacal land of fable, dream, and imagination, the West was to become for the settlers, the promise of a new life. Destination Wyoming.
Upon Jeremy, Jebediah’s brother’s return, his evil deeds are uncovered. Martha’s father, John McGuire is agog over what has happened. The pain of it all causes John extreme heartache. He suddenly takes ill and quickly calls for help. Guilt ridden, he will pay any price to get his daughter back!
It is by no coincidence that Martha’s childhood friend Austin Wells, offers his services. Jeremy Whittaker angered by his brother’s misdeeds joins him in the search for Martha. These odd travel partners board a steamship bound for Boston, one man on a mission of love and the other a mission of revenge and justice.
After Whittaker and Wells finally locate Martha they form a plan of rescue. Isaac, the oldest of the 3 boys takes matters into his own hands, literary. On one fateful day, inside a church, Isaac’s memories come to surface identifying the shadow that threw his mother down a flight of stairs, to her death! Shots ring out.
Before long the Whittaker’s pack-up, move, making a new life in the booming Mississippi river town of St. Louis, Missouri.
What awaits readers between the pages Of Dreams and Nightmares? An era of aristocracy, rogue heroes, a charmer and trickster, hard toil and suffering, a heroine of the plains, but most importantly a clear picture of a time and place in which classic stories take place.
The author’s research shines through for this period with captivating three-dimensional characters readers will easily relate to. Of Dreams and Nightmares is a well-written novel of which readers will admire, specifically content and delivery of this story.
Overall, the feel of this romantic tale is of epic proportions, moving at a fast, intriguing pace, that will keep readers glued to each page, lusting for more, even after they reach the end!
Third Book in Five Book Series - Southern Swallow - a tale of 12th Century China. Li K'ai-men becomes entangled in an intrigue that becomes his undoing.
