Dawn's Early Light

Elswyth Thane

Julian Day travelled from England with his father to the Colonies. His father was supposed to take a position as a teacher in Williamsburg, Virginia. But the senior Day died on the ship. This book opens with a lonely, shy Julian Day standing on the pier waiting for the people who are supposed to meet them. St. John, Sprague is delighted to meed Julian.

It is 1774. The Colonies are crying rebellion. The Boston Tea Party has already occured. St. John works for George Wythe. They meet regularly at the Raleigh, a Williamsburg tavern, with Tom Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Washington, and others of like minds. Julian is astonished to hear these men the first evening he is in America talking traitorous words against England and the King. At the end of the evening, St. John and Julian are leaving when they witness a man beating two children. That is when Julian meets Tibby and Kit Mawes.

Julian agrees to stay in Virginia as a teacher. He and St. John become good friends. Kit is in Julian's school. Julian works to make Tibby acceptable in the local girl's school. St. John's sister, Dorothea, and his girlfriend, Regina, return from London as the feelings get worse between the mother country and the colonies. The Spragues take Julian as part of their family. Then the fighting starts. Julian has to decide between England and America.

Dawn's Early Light was first published in 1943. Sixty years later it is as charming as ever. I first read it over 30 years ago. It gives a good portrayal of the emotions of the young country as it fights for its own place in history. Julian Day is an archetype of the type of man who learns the meaning of the independence and freedom of tyrrany from a non-caring king. St. John is the exhuberant representive of the new, young country.

This story is more than the birth of a nation. It is the story of the lives of the people involved, the fights, the families, and the romances. Because of the time it was written the gore of war is not described, but the hardships are. There is no sex, but there is intimacy. This book, the first in the Williamsburg series, is also the best of the series that follows the Day and Sprague families through the centuries up until World War II. I fell in love with this series as a teenager. It's good to know they stand up to time. I still recommend them.

1/19/10 Today I received this note:

"Thank you for this "blast from my past." This morning, I woke up with this title in my head: something must have triggered a memory of this title, or its author, the sound of whose name sounded so elegant & almost poetic to a child in a multi-ethnic, blue collar, MA neighborhood...THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME OF YET ANOTHER BLESSING IN MY LIFE: THOSE CARING LIBRARIANS WHO MENTORED ME, IN WAYS THEY NEVER REALIZED...Sincerely, Annette"

As an added note, my brother gave me Nancy Pearl's Book Lust for Christmas. Ms. Pearl mentiones Dawn's Early Light in a couple different places. I reiterate (and Annette agrees) this is a great book.

Dawn's Early Light
Yankee Stranger
Ever After
The Light Heart
Kissing Kin
This Was Tomorrow
Homing