Just Doll book 1 of the Staten Bay Trilogy

This is Janice Daugharty's first historical fiction. Some of the story elements of Gone With The Wind are present here, particularly in the delineation of character: a woman as mistress of a large agricultural demesne, and her love interest is a man with many endearing qualities beneath a raffish exterior. But this novel has nothing in common with stylized, romantic conceptions of Southern life among the aristocracy. Based on stories of her ancestors, but reinforced by careful research among other descendants and workers with long memories (in the turpentine industry, for example), Daugharty brings alive an era when dreams were lived large and people had to fight for their personal freedom. As a love story the book is a suspenseful one, because the outcome of Doll and Daniel's great affair is never settled, even when they settle down together. As lord of all he surveys, Daniel's character has never yielded much to the insights of the women in his life. Doll quickly sees through him, and a great struggle ensues, but knowledge of his infidelities doesn't change her respect for the man. No easy victories end the impasse, but by showing us her characters' resourcefulness and resolve -- without imposing a trace of ideology -- Daugharty has created an archetypal American couple as necessary to us as they were to each other.Daugharty, Janice is the author of 'Just Doll book 1 of the Staten Bay Trilogy', published 2004 under ISBN 9781880909720 and ISBN 1880909723.