White Seed

The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke

By: Paul Clayton

Narrated by: Lee Harpster

A fully-realized historical thriller in the tradition of James Clavell's Shogun and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth.

One of the most haunting mysteries in American history - The Lost Colony of Roanoke - comes roaring back to life in White Seed, with a compelling cast of characters, including Maggie Hagger, indentured Irish serving girl, a victim of rape and intimidation; Manteo, Croatoan interpreter for the English, inhabitant of two worlds, belonging to neither; John White, ineffective Governor, painter, dreamer, father and grandfather; Captain Stafford, brave and disciplined, but cruel soldier; and Powhatan, shrewd Tidewater warlord who wages a stealthy war against the colonists.

©2009 Paul Clayton (P)2013 Paul Clayton

Hard to listen to

Would you try another book from Paul Clayton and/or Lee Harpster?

Despite a very stilted narration, I persevered listening to the book as the story is fascinating. But I just could not finish it due to the over-articulated stilted narration.

Why oh why

This has to be the worse narrator I have heard so far from Audible. His accent fluctuates each time he reads the same character, and his butchery of an English accent is just... this will be returned as i think I would rather read the actual book than suffer through this again.

An interesting piece of history

This is not brilliant writing but it's a good story and told well enough. The questions of what happened in Roanoke has always fascinated me. of course it's speculative, but it's interesting.

Can’t recommend

This could have been an interesting story but for the narrators odd mispronunciations and performance. It seemed the characters were trying to channel Fonzi from Happy Days “Ayyyy” and using a hard g for gaol.

Very Slow, But the Content Is OK

I downgraded the story primarily because the pace was incredibly slow and far too long. The content was good, but could have been shortened and condensed a lot. There were too many repetitive days with similar challenges and happenings. By the time the already expected ending came about, albeit with a slight twist, it was nearly anti-climactic.

The reader did a very good job of keeping the different voices accurate, even with a large number of characters. He deserves acknowledgement for his toil.