Dragons of the Storm, The

"The Dragons of the Storm is as enthralling as The Weight of Smoke. I think John Smith and Francis Drake would rejoice in George Minkoff's lively re-creation of them." — Edmund Sears Morgan

"This is an extraordinarily well-written series of books. I believe that years from now, critics of fine literature will rank these books with the writings of Patrick O’Brian and Dorothy Dunnett as great historical fiction — thoroughly researched and written with exceptional prose. I am looking forward to reading Mr. Minkoff’s final episode about the Land of Whispers."— Jeff Westerhoff, Historical Novels Society

When Powhatan forcibly adopted Captain John Smith into his tribe, he had declared that after three wounds he would hear the voices of the river. While fishing in the Chesapeake toward the end of a long expedition, Smith is stabbed by a stingray and falls deathly ill. Because he is set to assume the presidency of Jamestown upon their return, the fate of the colony may depend upon his recovery. The old alchemist and mariner, Jonas Profit, doctors this second wound, and to ease Smith's suffering starts to tell of the daring circumnavigation of the world by Francis Drake. So begins the second volume of George Robert Minkoff's visionary epic, In the Land of Whispers, revealing the desperate events in the lives of both Drake and Smith that will lead finally to a permanent settlement for the Elizabethans in the New World. John Smith is followed from the initiations of the first volume into a year of unforeseen trials and their consequence. While the London Company's aristocrats broker the colony's fate with their wealth and power, the colonists struggle an ocean away merely to survive in an unforgiving land. Famine, contagion, mutiny, and war with Powhatan threaten constantly. And the one man who might save Jamestown from itself, John Smith, will have to confront not only the venality of his enemies, and the legacy of his spiritual fathers, but also the mysteries of his destiny.