Warranted Land

In the year 1615 a Grandmother begins to document the heritage of her family scattered into the social, political and business opportunities of London. Beyond the City’s squalor are promises of wealth, opportunity and religious freedom
in the untamed colonies of America. On offer is cheap land
in return for transportation of population. Having seen action in Cromwell’s Navy, the pivotal decision to emigrate is made in 1659 by a former naval surgeon, now with a successful London practice. As sailing date approaches, we wonder if Grandmother’s intriguing bequest will be sufficient to maintain the family ties through the challenges and opportunities of separation, loss, belief and regeneration ...

A Saga of Thirteen Generations

A family grandmother cherishes her Kentish heritage but the English family disperses. In America, there is land for those with the courage to take it. Removed from England, there is the labour to exploit it – soon to be joined with African slave and English youth labour for the fields.

English law and military might prove insufficient to contain political ambition for colonial independence resulting in a conflict not resolved for fifty years.

Opportunity and romance arise in the East Indies but still the family gravitates to their ancestral home along the River Medway. Yet bigger storm clouds loom over Europe as the tenth generation returns to the mother country to
uphold the values they sought three hundred years ago in their warranted land.

The saga tells of the proud heritage sustaining a family and its continuity, through 3 previous and 10 subsequent generations, in England, America and on the high seas. The full saga is to be presented in five novels, each designed to be free-standing. Any novel in the saga could be read individually, or whole sequence could be taken in any order, although there is a chronological structure to the five titles:

Warranted Land broadly 1605 to 1662
Bernard’s Law broadly 1662 to 1730
Rosetta’s Rocks broadly 1752 to 1799
Ada’s Troth broadly 1770 to 1840
Makepiece’s Mission broadly 1943 to 1997