I have an interest in historical fiction. Some of the historical fiction I’ve read hasn’t really done a good job with the subject matter. That is not the case with Presson’s book here. She does an outstanding job of transporting the reader into this time. A very compelling story and the start of a series that will be worth reading to see more of the Press family

Emotive and evocative. Well written & researched. Loved it from beginning to end, and found it hard to put down

This was the most wonderful story. A must read for the summer. Thank you to Netgalley and to Kwill and Keebord
Publishing for the perusal. I will be think ing about this book for a long time.

It starts with Anne's family print a broadsheet on their illegal press, and then Anne goes to 17th Century London, to deliver the papers to their customers for distribution. The first few chapters of the book therefore are used to demonstrate the fervent anti-Monarchy sentiment (focused on Charles I) swirling around the city immediately before Charles' trial.   Interesting technique, with an appearance of John Milton the poet in an early chapter, but which could have got very heavy handed had it gone on much longer.



During a visit to one of their customers, a bookseller, Anne's relationship with Edward deepens, and it's not long before the two are engaged, then marry. Here the book speeds up, and it is on their wedding day that the youngest sister, Jane, is killed by Rupert, the son of their landlord Lord Owen.

Whilst Lord Owen  lives, much is well and the extended family prosper as much they can. However, upon his death, Rupert inherits, despite being a drunken gambler who has raped one of the local chambermaids, getting her pregnant. Soon, plots of the land are being sold off to pay off debts, and the pamphlet publishing (used to feed Edward's bookstore) has to stop, as there's nowhere to store and run it.

It's not long before the Black Death makes an appearance and kills many of the locals, including Anne's father, husband and infant son. It doesn't kill Rupert though, which makes Anne angry against God for taking the godly, whilst sparing the evil.

Life still goes on on the farm, and with the store in London, they do well enough. Nick has his eye on one girl, whose father only objects to the marriage because Nick has no financial stability - he has no trade and the family dont own the farm they live and work on. Nick is therefore offered the chance to work for the family business, or go out to Virginia to work and make his  money on the tobacco farms. At first he takes to the family business, to be near to his family, but after a year, realises it's not going to work out.

This presents him with a dilemma - what to do with the family as they have lost the farm, and the shop wont support them all. The latter part of the book is spent trying to find a new husband for Anne, and they find someone who is suitable. However, a run in with Rupert puts paid to that, and it is decided that Anne will join Nick in travelling to Virginia. The book finishes with them on the boat as it pulls away.

There has clearly been a lot of research and the author attempts to generate a sense of place and time for the reader, especially what it was like for the "common people" at a time of major upheaval (Charles I is the only English king to have been beheaded by the people).  However, in attempting to display the passion and strength of feeling against the monarchy, it did become a little overbearing and wading through treacle - almost a "are we going through this conversation again?" feeling.

I did spend much of the book waiting for them to land in America - I expected this to be a book of two halves, where the second half covered the settlers trying to establish their way in Virginia, so in a way I was waiting for the departure that only came in the last few pages (so was a little disappointed that it didnt happen).

In reading other reviews it seems that majority of people seem to be raving about it. It was interesting enough to finish, but I don't think me and the style/the pace were appropriate matches. Perhaps I'm out of practise reading challenging books!

It is not often that there is historical fiction from the life of the everyday sort of folks. It is the lives of the upper class and the royals that are not only more often recorded but they are seen as better and more interesting fodder for the everyday reader. I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy this Stuart Era piece at first but once I got past the first few chapter I began to see the appeal. Not only does the author have a family connection to her subjects but she has managed to make her own family history entertaining, and not strictly informative. There is an unhealthy amount of stories with either an unfair over-assumption about the base knowledge of one’s readers or the reader is assumed to be tabula rasa and then we, the readers, have to slough through a never ending lecture about something like Elizabethan policy making. Author DJ Presson has created a very neat balance between these two all too common pitfalls, by giving some backstory without dumping an entire textbook on us. It felt familiar to the works by Oliver Pötzsch (The Hangman’s Daughter Series) in that it is an author writing about his own family. Yet both of these authors have managed to create stories that mesh into history without over glorifying the families. It is no shame to be from a family that struggled or had to politically flee. It is nice to hear about the other families and not just the Tudors and the other royal families. With only 265 pages, it is a quick read but entirely enjoyable throughout. The story moves along at a fair clip and doesn’t drag its heels. If you enjoy Cromwell era historical fiction, this will be another on your list.

*This eBook was provided by Kwill and Keebord Publishing and Netgalley in exchange for honest feedback*

Wow, just wow! Entertaining, fascinating, un-put-downable read! Loved it and cant wait for the sequel.

A very readable and entertaining story inspired by the authors research into her own heritage. However I wasn't all positive:

-I thought the feminist agenda was pushed a little too far with Anne's character.
-Some parts felt rather hurried.
-There were some issues with timing. (Engagement mid January, wedding mid May, yet they find the time to have five months of wedding preparations. Also six months later, which would be mid November, they're harvesting. A bit late for harvesting, but at the same time it is a few days after the autumn equinox, which would be late September and makes much more sense from a harvesting point of view.)

This historical novel is beautifully written and densely packed with actual events, it is set in the middle of the 17th century in England. It shows the struggles people had with king Charles I, the whole political situation and the struggle of a commoner at the time. D.J. Presson found some of these facts while researching family history, which makes the book a little more personal than any other historical fiction piece. It is very interesting, and has multiple story lines, and the every day life of the colonial times is compelling.

The style of writing is the one describing the events instead of presenting them in action. The language is not engaging.

While I appreciated the version of 17th Century England spun for this novel I would have appreciated it more had there been less imagination and a bit more realism. Over all a good book, but I have some personal nit picky issues with the text.

I received this book via NetGalley to review.

"The heritage" is the story of the Press family, who earn their living farming Lord Owen's lands in 1641, in an era of political unrest after the home arrest and later execution of King Charles the first. It's a portrait of politics, familial love, friendship, kindness, romance, and all the hardships and heartbreaks that a family can endure from life at a time like that, and the decisions they had to take in order to survive.

The story is beautifully written, and, after the necessary chapters explaining the political situation, very much needed to understand the uncertainty they were living in, we come to know and love this family, and I'm not ashamed to confess that I celebrated their periods of happiness and cried at their misfortunes.

This is also a story based on the facts D.J.Presson had found when she was looking for the truth after an old family legend about two siblings that arrived in Virginia from London leaving behind their family and some personal tragedies, which adds to the feeling of this book.

This book certainly deserves 5 stars from start to end, and I'll be eagerly looking for the sequels.

The Heritage

by D J Presson

Kwill and Keebord Publishing

Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles

Historical Fiction

Pub Date 30 May 2017 | Archive Date 03 Aug 2017

I am reviewing The Heritage through Kwill and Keebord Publishing and Netgalley:

Seventeenth Century England was awash with corruption, war, inequality and misery. The common people feel powerless to do anything about it.

June 1647 London, King Charles the First is under house arrest. January 1649 Nick and his family illegally begin printing out pamphlets, he had smuggled the illegal printing Press to London in 1638.

This book is a romantic tale set in the backdrop of a time of political unrest.

This book takes place during a time when King Charles the first is under trial. But King Charles refuses to plea because he feels that no one has the right to judge him, as he is the King. Many look at King Charles 1 a traitor.

On May .15.1649 Anne and Edward Marry. Soon Anne gives birth to a Son. Anne not only prints others work and advice but she writes fictional stories under a Pseudonym, Just Thankful.

But soon Anne looses her husband and her infant son to an unexplained sickness, that leaves just as it had come, with death and destruction. Anne was bedridden most of the winter due to the choking grief, the loss of her Mother, her baby and her husband was more than she could bare. Anne had not been able to write a word since the loss of her family.

I give The Heritage five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

This was a fun book made all the better because of the personal connection the author had with the story. I received a copy on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It is 1641 and in London and across England dissent against the monarch Charles I.
Anne and her brother Nick Press help their father Nicholas Senior produce and distribute anti royalist pamphlets that they produce on their farm on an illegal printing press. On a trip to London from Hornchurch (Essex) they witness the terrifying torture of a young boy instigated by their landlord's evil son Rupert Owen. The boy Peppy is adopted by the family and as the political and religious situation around them changes Anne will experience many life changing moments both with her family and with her ambitions to be an independent writer. But tragedy and the execution of a King lead to tumultuous times in England where fear and religious persecution still dominate daily life. Alongside personal human endeavours and life changing experiences it's a good page turning read.
The author has based the main characters on ancestors in her family with distant brothers who emigrated to Virginia in America in the mid 17th century. However the novel is a fictional account and well written to provide the factual historical research against characters that invite you to follow their lives.
At times the plot is enlivened with 'real' people from the time - John Milton, John Bunyan and Cromwell himself but this adds to the atmosphere and will inform those unaware of the history of that time with useful references.
This is the first in a trilogy - to be followed by The Foundation and then The Legacy so engagement with the characters may well lead to readers wanting to know more about the lives of Anne and Nick Press.

Reading a book that you already know is going to be a series - even a short 3 book series can be unfulfilling and unfortunately this one was. I understand the need to set a lot in place for all the books but it was done in too much detail in this one. The characters are really well developed and the language is perfect for the era. The interplay with the history of the place was also really well done. The story just did not develop enough to catch me as a reader who is invested enough to want to read the next two.