Joint Venture

About the Book

It was a time of dire uncertainty for Richard and Isabella Pace, a young couple on their way to Jamestown in the colony of Virginia. Passing through London, they meet Shakespeare. Fleeing her angry family, they joined the Great Resupply Fleet of 1610. Forced to board separate vessels to avoid being spotted, their ships are dispersed by a hurricane. The pregnant Isabella arrives safely in the colony, but Richard's craft is run aground off Bermuda.

She experiences the Starving Time when Pawhattan imposes a trade embargo on the "cut throat" English, but meets and is befriended by Pocahantas. Richard finally arrives in Jamestown with his new friend John Rolfe to rejoin his Isabella and their new son George.With Rolfe, he ventures into tobacco planting, which does not prove successful until a boat load of slaves are traded for provisions by Dutch seamen. The slaves are expert tobacco men. They are indentured. Richard comes home with one named Hector. Isabella disapproves but adapts. They soon prosper and build a house across the James river.

Afterwards relationships between planters and natives deteriorate. After Pawattan's death and burial the natives attempt to massacre the colonists on Good Friday. Richard and Isabella survive.

About the Author

Anthony Dellaira is a writer and educator living in Voorhees, New Jersey with his wife Ann, his dog Max and three feral cats. He has had a number of stories published in literary magazines and several of his plays were given staged readings at the Playwr ight s Workshop and Society Hill Playhouse in Philadelphia. He is the author of the novel Nothing Wonderful and has had several articles published in the Mensa Bulletin. He is a twelfth generation descendent of Ri chard and Isabella Pace, the main characters in this novel, who settled in Jamestown in 1610.