Because I enjoyed reading Klein's novel "Ophelia" (another version of Shakespeare's Hamlet), I decided to read her other novels. Historical fiction fascinates me and I was glad to have read this novel as well. "Cate of the Lost Colony" tells the tale of a woman named Catherine (Cate) during the time when women were usually excluded from decision-making. Despite this, throughout the story, Cate is a heroine who is defiant, strong-willed, and outspoken. By entwining history and fiction, Klein created a story that will not be easily forgotten and also reintroduces the mystery of the “Lost Colony of Roanoke."
Cate of the Lost Colony
By Lisa Klein
Interest Level | Reading Level | Reading A-Z | ATOS | Word Count |
---|---|---|---|---|
Grades 6 - 8 | Grade 7 | n/a | 6.1 | 85134 |
Lady Catherine is one of Queen Elizabeth's favorite court maidens―until her forbidden romance with Sir Walter Ralegh is discovered. In a bitter twist of irony, the jealous queen banishes Cate to Ralegh's colony of Roanoke, in the New World. Ralegh pledges to come for Cate, but as the months stretch out, Cate begins to doubt his promise and his love. Instead it is Manteo, a Croatoan Indian, whom the colonists―and Cate―increasingly turn to. Yet just as Cate's longings for England and Ralegh fade and she discovers a new love in Manteo, Ralegh will finally set sail for the New World.
Seamlessly weaving together fact with fiction, Lisa Klein's newest historical drama is an engrossing tale of adventure and forbidden love―kindled by one of the most famous mysteries in American history: the fate of the settlers at Roanoke, who disappeared without a trace forty years before the Pilgrims would set foot in Plymouth.