In 1587, two English women board a ship to cross a treacherous ocean towards a land full of promise and danger. The Rising Shore – Roanoke is an historical fiction novel which sketches in possible answers to an old American mystery: what happened to the colony on Roanoke Island, Virginia? The author has chosen to explore this theme with a multiple viewpoint narrative. Elenor White, daughter of the expedition’s chosen leader John White, hastily marries a bricklayer for the chance to join the company as lawful wife of a member. Elenor, an intelligent woman with the soul of an unfulfilled artist, sees Virginia as a land where she will be able to spread her wings and reach a potential denied to her in London by her gender. Her young serving girl, Margaret Lawrence, also believes that Virginia holds the key to bettering herself, not realizing that the land will tax her strength and her self in ways she cannot conceive. Strikingly, both women frequently refer to themselves in the third person, as if in their daily lives they are playing a role while their secret selves look on. Once the expedition reaches Virginia, all plans disintegrate as the little society fails to meet their expectations. The lazy are still lazy; and the greedy, the jealous, and the ambitious are still all of those things with greater intensity. The colonists own faults are magnified by the smallness of the company and the extreme hardships and danger of the land, and soon, events are tumbling unstoppably toward the inevitable fate of the colony. Deborah Homsher has created a compelling historical fiction novel, through which we glimpse the earliest ragged edge of recorded American history. ( )

Story of the Lost Colony told from the perspectives of two pioneering women: the daughter of the expedition's governor and her servant. See www.risingshoreroanoke.com for more information.

An enthralling saga of a colony presumed doomed …
— The Midwest Book Review

Homsher paints a harsh yet believable picture of life in Roanoke, and she skillfully intertwines the narratives of the women, revealing the difference in perceptions based on class, situation, and personality, yet painting a clearer and clearer picture of their lives with every stroke. Homsher’s novel gives life to the few scraps of historical documentation of the Roanoke colony and creates strong characters that grab your attention and make you dream of an altered history.
— Historical Novels Review Online [Historical Novel Society]

Some of the best historical fiction takes place in the space between known fact and the novelist's imagination. Deborah Homsher tells a powerful story of the men and, especially, the women who crossed the Atlantic in 1587 to become the settlers of the ill-fated “lost colony.” We can feel the creak of the wooden ships, share the perilous lives of the colonists at sea and on land, and observe the origins of an enduring mystery.
— Bill Jaker, producer and host, “Off the Page,” WSKG Public Radio

[for AUTHOR INTERVIEW with Bill Jaker, visit:
http://www.wskg.com/OffThepage/2007-04-17-Homsher-offthepage.htm

This is Homsher's first foray into the world of fiction and make no mistake, The Rising Shore—Roanoke is the work of a powerful talent whose elegant and lyrical words as well as her characters' speech patterns and dialogue give the book much of its considerable strength
— bookpleasures.com

Homsher paints a vivid picture of the danger and hardship faced by the colonists—not the least, we find, from within as well as from without. Her colonists are not the noble stereotypes of school textbooks, but believable, flawed people. … For those interested in American history, women's history, or simply a good story, I recommend it highly.
— Historical Fiction Forum, www.historicalfiction.org ( )