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Lydia Bailey
Lydia Bailey
Author: Kenneth Roberts
It is 1800, and the ideals and the promises of the newborn United States are being tested in actual practice. In Boston, the Federalists are jailing those who are speaking out against them. In the West Indies, French privateers are avenging a broken treaty by capturing American merchant vessels, which French courts are condemning and allowing to...  more »
ISBN: 200101
Publication Date: 1947
Pages: 488
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 1

3.5 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Doubleday & Company, Inc.
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
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reviewed Lydia Bailey on + 813 more book reviews
This book is really two separate stories linked by the heroine of the title. The hero, falling in love with her portrait, sets out to find her in Haiti. It is 1800 and the first part deals with the French privateers in the Caribbean and Bonaparte's attacks to retake Haiti from the natives. Part two takes the couple to the Mediterranean where they are captured by the Barbary pirates. Much of this deals with the United State's political [mis]dealings with the Barbary States. Lydia is the brain behind their escape from both situations.
amerigo avatar reviewed Lydia Bailey on
This story, as with all Kenneth Roberts' novels, are high romantic historical adventure. He's up there with Frank Yerby, Ben Ames Williams, Thoman Costain, Samuel Shellabarger, and Rafael Sabatini. There's a good reason why Hollywood made so many of their novels into movies. It's just pure entertainment.

The action takes us from New England during the furor over the Aliens and Seditions Act to Haiti during Toussaint L'Ouverture's rebellion, where he meets and marries the lovely Lydia Bailey. The couple escape the French re-invasion of Haiti and head to Europe. They are then captured in the Mediterrenean by the barbary pirates who have declared war on the new United States. Roberts peppers his books, and this one is no exception, with numerous historical characters; and though the main character, Lydia, is a little bland and predictable, it is still an entertaining read. Not one of his best, but still very good.


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