What separates a good historical novel from the chaff is the ability to credibly represent the past as the present, to portray yesterday’s people as if they were still alive. Author Piers Alexander has achieved and surpassed this level of excellence in his novel “Scatterwood.”

This story takes the reader deep into the world of indentured servitude, exposing a sordid underbelly of brutality that might crush a man with weaker resolve than Calumny Spinks. Fortunately (or unfortunately) for Spinks, the lives of the people he loves more than anything else are in jeopardy, their futures precariously balanced and directly linked to his actions. He has been given a job to do, one that promises a great reward if he can accomplish it within a short period of time.

As previously mentioned, Mr. Alexander doesn’t just talk about 1692, he drags the reader by the wrist into the past, forcing us to experience life in the late 17th century. His style of writing matches the time period, and the choice to insert period words and phrases as well as words used by his allies in the Maroon tribe only serve to enlarge the world he has created for us.

Mr. Alexander has provided more than a novel to enjoy. After the tale is completed, there are pages of facts and information to enjoy:
• Calumny’s Tongues: translations of some of the words used in the book
• Calumny’s Jamaica: a history supporting the realism of the world of Calumny Spinks (a section not to be missed!)
• Further reading: Both non-fiction and fiction populate this list

As a historical novel, this is a top shelf entry. As a story, it contains adventure, battles, intrigue, and the saga of one man striving toward near-impossible goals. This is a page-turner, and is highly recommended. Five stars.

Straight from not so merry old England, back in the olden days circa late 1690’s, where many impoverished souls were kidnapped, coerced, conscripted unwillingly or forced to indenture themselves for any number of reasons. Jamaica was an abundant source of sugar cane and ripe for plundering. Slaves by the millions were brought to work the plantations to supply the world with molasses and rum, forging a lively trade for ships to carry the results of the slave labor back to England and beyond. These were the days of wooden ships and iron men and a brisk waterfront at the Jamaican harbor at Port Royal. The waterfront was plagued with the drunks, prostitutes, slave markets and the human dregs no longer fit to serve any useful purpose. Indentured men were sold to the highest bidder and began their seven years of service with the promise of freedom and land at the end of their servitude. Overseers were brutal, yielding whips and knives, the knives for removing fingers. Often as an indentured was close to freedom the treatment was worse, even deadly. A slave was there for life but the end of servitude meant the end of a laborer, so no need to spare them. This book is so much more than the above mentioned, it is the story of one man mostly, but of a time and place in history many know nothing of. Soldiers, sailors, runaway slaves, an ongoing war, and power struggles all come together in in this tale of times long past. It is a story told in a fashion to keep the reader glued to the script. Some may find how man treats man despicable, disgusting, even unbelievable but for someone who reads as much as I do it is not so shocking, still to future readers I think of some of those news cast warnings “caution, graphic violence”. Full of historical nuggets the term fascinating springs to mind as a description of this entire book.