1666 - by Lora Chilton (Paperback)

About the Book

"The survival story of the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia has been remembered within the tribe for generations, but the massacre of Patawomeck men and the enslavement of women and children by land hungry colonists in 1666 has been mostly unknown outside of the tribe until now. Author Lora Chilton, a member of the tribe through the lineage of her father, has created this powerful fictional retelling. Told in first person point of view through the imagined lives of two women, Chilton tells the harrowing stories of Ah'SaWei WaTaPaAnTam (Golden Fawn) and NePa'WeXo (Shining Moon), members of the surviving Patawomeck tribe, who after the slaughter of their men were sold and transported to Barbados via slave ship. Separated and bought by different sugar plantations, they endured, each plotting their escapes before finally making their way back to Virginia to be reunited with the few members of the tribe that remained. It is because of these women that the tribe is in existence to this day" --

Book Synopsis

The Survival Story of the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia told through the lives of two women

The survival story of the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia has been remembered within the tribe for generations, but the massacre of Patawomeck men and the enslavement of women and children by land hungry colonists in 1666 has been mostly unknown outside of the tribe until now. Author Lora Chilton, a member of the tribe through the lineage of her father, has created this powerful fictional retelling.

Told in first person point of view through the imagined lives of two women, Chilton tells the harrowing stories of Ah'SaWei WaTaPaAnTam (Golden Fawn) and NePa'WeXo (Shining Moon), members of the surviving Patawomeck tribe, who after the slaughter of their men were sold and transported to Barbados via slave ship. Separated and bought by different sugar plantations, they endured, each plotting their escapes before finally making their way back to Virginia to be reunited with the few members of the tribe that remained.

Review Quotes

"Packed with Indigenous culture and customs and sprinkled with tribal terminology, the narrative is vivid, magnetic, and chilling. The author is herself a Patawomeck descendant, and she's combined scant available written records with tribal oral history to inform her creation of two emotionally powerful, vibrant female protagonists....plenty of action, tears, cheers, and historical detail work to keep the pages turning. A disturbing, absorbing, and valuable addition to the literature of cruelty inflicted upon Indigenous peoples." -Kirkus Reviews

"Lora Chilton's 1666: A Novel is an historically accurate, horrific, moving chronicle of the devastation wrought on the indigenous population by white settlers in early America. The author manages to take large dollops of shocking history and fashion them into a narrative that moves like a chilling wind. The story is a tragedy, of course, but in Chilton's sure hands, it transcends the horrors, and the name of this transcendence is Art." --Corey Mesler, author of Memphis Movie, and The World is Neither Stacked For Nor Against You: Selected Stories

"With meticulous research, Lora Chilton's 1666: A Novel, brings to life the forgotten and tragic story of women who survived a disgraceful chapter in our melting-pot history. Following them from Virginia and the birth of the 'New World, ' to Barbados, eventually back to their lost homelands, you cannot help but mourn the lost opportunity early settlers had to collaborate rather than annihilate." --Molly Caldwell Crosby, author of The American Plague, and The Great Pearl Heist

"In this debut novel by Lora Chilton, 1666: A Novel, we are introduced to a history based account of two brave Indigenous women of the Patawomeck tribe, who are abducted from their native Virginia home in 1666 and enslaved under the brutal 'Master' and 'Mistress' of the plantations in Barbados. A page-turning marvel of a historical novel! Otherwise, the shameful erasure of the Patawomeck would have been maintained." --Diana Y. Paul, author of Things Unsaid

"Focusing on the experiences of three Patawomeck women in the latter half of the seventeenth century, Chilton, in 1666: A Novel, draws on contemporary scholarship regarding Patawomeck and Virginia Algonquian history, culture, and language to develop her characters and add depth to their stories. It is refreshing to read a story about Virginia Indian women in the seventeenth century that avoids the glamorized, sexualized, and racialized Pocahontas mythology and instead centers on the experiences of those everyday people who may not have been so well-known to colonizers but are the true ancestors of most Virginia Indians.... A fast-paced novel that takes the reader through numerous Atlantic landscapes from the traditional Patawomeck homelands along Potomac Creek, to Barbados, to New York, 1666 illustrates the interconnectedness of the early Modern world and its people." --Dr. Brad Hatch, Patawomeck Tribal Historian and Tribal Council Member

"Beautifully written, 1666: A Novel tells a story that needs to be told...this is a story of the survival of our best selves over our worst." --Dr. Barbara U. Prescott, co-author of My Heart Got Married and I Didn't Know It

"History is usually written by the conquerors, so it is said to be HIS-story!... 1666: A Novel, an often raw and gritty work of historical fiction, describes the resilience and tenacity that ultimately is OUR-story! Based on actual Colonial documents from the 1600s, this tragic tale often seems as shocking as a sudden plunge into cold water... but then reverberates with redemption and the LOVE of family and fr