Maxville Williams

Strange Wind from the Roanoke Maxville Williams

Strange Wind from the Roanoke, a skillfully designed novel, written by Maxville B. Williams, is an analogy of post-Revolutionary War years in North Carolina and Sam Pickett, a fictional citizen of Halifax, North Carolina. The novel, beginning at the end of the War in 1781, and ending with the Tarheel State's ratifying the United States Constitution in November 1789, parallels the experiences and moods of the people of a state without a national connection and with those of the man, Sam Pickett, who has lost his wife. The marriage of Sam Pickett to Josephine Hamilton almost immediately after the Revolutionary War is quickly interrupted by the illness and, supposedly, the death of "Josie." Coincidently, when North Carolina ratifies the national Constitution in Fayetteville in November 1789, Josie reappears in Halifax, having been surreptitiously stolen from the small pox house of contagion by her father, an obstinate Patriot. The observant reader becomes aware of the technique used by Mr. Williams that makes this a really meaningful novel. Sam Pickett is the epitome of the people in the state of North Carolina; whereas, Josie represents those whose lives are complicated by many opposing factors. Mr. William R. Davie represents the nation and its advantages for all who will accept it.