Listen for the Lark - Hardcover

Applegate, James; Applegate, Marion

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1434328546 ISBN 13: 9781434328540

Publisher: AuthorHouse, 2007

Synopsis

Listen for the Lark is a story of compassion, love and survival in the American wilderness. Penelope Van Princis immigrated to New Amsterdam from the Netherlands in 1643. Filled with the promises of the New World, she is shipwrecked off the coast of New Jersey. Upon reaching the shore she looses everything she owns and everyone she loves to an attack from unfriendly Indians, leaving her permanently scared. Having been left for dead, she survives until the Sanhicans of the Delaware Indians befriend her and nurse her back to health. While among these native people, Penelope is forced to accept their cruel form of justice, confront her fears and accept her husband's death while paving a new life for herself in a wilderness that is not always fair. Because of the attack, the fear of carrying a Maqua child haunts her after two people from Fort Amsterdam accuse her of carrying a bastard. Since her life is in constant danger, she questions God's love and doubts she has any purpose in the universe. Pursued by two very different men while she is grieving for her murdered husband, Penelope walks a tight rope while trying to protect her unborn child. Both men have lost their wives and need Penelope to help them rebuild their lives. As if she didn't have enough problems in her life, Penelope has to protect three runaway slaves and a Jesuit priest who have joined her in the Sanhican community because living at Fort Amsterdam was too dangerous. Listen for the Lark is our imaginative journey into Penelope's body, mind, and soul as she lives through the suspenseful drama of her first nine months in the New World. Penelope Van Princis, a remarkable woman, helped establish the country we love today.

About this title

About the Author

Jim and Marion Applegate earned their degrees in the Midwest from the University of Dubuque and Rockford College. After retiring in 1998 from a lifetime of teaching writing in public schools, they began a second career as authors, publishing their first novel, Symphony of Spirits, in 2005 and their second novel, Listen for the Lark in 2007.As members of Peninsula Writers of Michigan, the Woodstock, IL Troubadours Writers Organization, and the Rockford Writers Guild of Illinois, they have been the fortunate recipients of encouragement and advice.Born and raised in Watchung, New Jersey, they spent their formative years exploring the beauty and mystery of coastal beaches, inland forest, and mountainous regions where the rivers begin their journeys to the sea. Their memories of this territory before it became one of the most populated places in the United States provide the settings for both of their first two novels. While raising their two children in the woodlands and prairies of northern Illinois along the Kinnikinnick Creek, they nourished their love of the outdoors. After retiring, they began volunteering for the Natural Land Institute, an organization that preserves and protects the environment. Marion's family history led them to research the Delaware Indians, who saved Penelope Van Princis's life. Marion, her descendant would not have been born if Penelope had not lived long enough to bear ten children after facing almost certain death the day she arrived on the beach of New Jersey in 1643. These few remaining facts about their heroine encouraged Jim and Marion to imagine how she survived and succeeded in building a remarkable life. Contrary to what many Europeans believed when they first came to America, the Delaware people placed a premium on family values over and above the importance of masculine prowess. These people fought only to protect their loved ones and were generous to strangers like Penelope.

Edition details

• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1434328546
• ISBN 13: 9781434328540
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 408