"Benjamin reached the head of the winding staircase overlooking the great foyer below; he hesitated a moment to view the gallery of ancestors lining the wall of the stairwell."
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Seaason's Sun by Leigh Clarke Trafford Publishing
book review by Libby Grandy
Part One of Leigh Clarke's historical fiction, Season's Sun, begins in Ireland in the late 1700s. Benjamin McLain's father, Sir Edward, is disappointed that his son has decided to turn in his naval commission and become a landowner. His mother, Lady Katherine, wanting her only son to continue the family's noble bloodline, is distressed to learn that he plans to marry Anna Campbell, whose family has relocated from Scotland. Consequently, Anna turns down Benjamin's proposal. It is not until his ship wrecks off the coast of Norway on his last sea trip, and he is rescued by a Norwegian family, that perspective returns to those in Ireland.
Benjamin goes back home, and he and Anna get married. Twenty years later, a tragedy occurs while he and his sons are visiting Dublin. Problems that the Irish refer to as "the Troubles" are escalating. Radical Protestants are burning the homes of Catholic farmers while radical Catholics are raiding Protestant farms and terrorizing the population. Benjamin loses those most dear to him. After the tragic events in Ireland, Benjamin leaves for America to rebuild his life in Charleston, North Carolina.
Part Two of Season's Sun continues the McLain family saga. With his sons and their families by his side, Benjamin regains his wealth in America and when Edith Caulfield and her sons from Ireland join them in the new land, he finds love and happiness again.
In Season's Sun, Clarke uses her own family history, specifically that of her 8th great-grandfather and his descendents, for this interesting, historically factual novel.