Title: Corrigans Pool
Author: Dot Ryan
Genre: Historical Fiction
Challenges: 101 Books in 1001 Days Challenge, Book Around the States Challenge, Winter Holiday Reading Challenge #2, Monthly Mixer Mele, Four Month Challenge Part 2, Read and Review Challenge 2010, Read Your Own Books 2010, TBR Challenge 2010, Reading From My Shelves Project 2010, 100 Reading Challenge, Pages Read 2010, American Civil War Challenge,
Rating: 3/5
No. of Pages: 424
Published: April 24th 2009

Back Cover: Ella Corrigan has the weight of four generations laid solely on her shoulders. After her mother's accident, her father drifted to alcohol, leaving Ella to manage Greenpoole. She runs the plantation efficiently and treats her slaves with dignity. But marriage, expected for a belle of her standing, eludes her.
When Gentry Garland rides into Savannah from Texas, Ella's life brightens. Despite a contentiuus start, he and Ella fall in love. When Gentry exits her life as abruptly as he had entered it, Ella, brokenhearted, and with feelings of shame for having loved him, hastily marries Victor Faircloth-a man whose proposals she has long avoided.
At Faircloth's plantation, Ella witnesses depravities of the human spirit that stun her. Her own gentle family has owned slaves for generations but now she questions that institution for the first time, feeling a strange kinship with Victor's empty-eyed servants who are beginning to escape his cruelty one by one. Thrust upon her heart is the knowledge of how they disappear without a trace . . . when the mystery of Corrigan's Pool on her family's neighboring property is finally revealed.
Struggling against her husband's dictates and blackmail, worsened by bitter memories of Gentry Garland, Ella must bargain not only for her own survival but that of her family and the slaves she has come to pity. As Sherman's Union troops burn their way across Georgia and swarm onto her property and then into Savannah, Ella musters strength that she believed she no longer possessed. Can she save herself and those who depend on her? What will she do when the past she has long blamed for her wretchedness steps unexpectedly out of the darkness to face her?


Mine: I had never heard of the book or author, so was intrigued to read this book. It was a little slow to start and did drag some during the middle. I did like the fact that Ella tried to treat everyone with respect. It’s story that takes place during Civil War time and after. The story is about what love and family can really mean.

I believe this might be a good book for a book group to read, since there is a lot to discuss about the period of time and the tragedies of war and how it affect all involve (slaves, plantation owners). The romance is wonderful and strongly written.

In the end this was a wonderful book to have gotten and read. Thank you to Pump It Up
 
( )

The synopsis on the back of Corrigan's Pool is brilliantly written and hooked me right away. Could the novel live up to its promise, I wondered? I had to find out. I'm a native Virginian, also known as a Southerner, and have a natural interest in tales of the Old South. This historical novel, set in Savannah, Georgia during the years 1861 - 1864 promised to be as vivid and entertaining as Gone With The Wind. Who could resist?

Some might say that it's too familiar, stories of the Old South filled with beautiful plantations, idle rich supported by slaves, fancy dresses, and summer romances. What could give such stories new life? What I immediately noticed was the way the story flowed smoothly, the attention to telling details in both scenery and characterization. Mrs. Ryan drew me into her fictional world quickly, effortlessly, and I had difficulty putting the book down.

The story centers around Ella Corrigan, the eldest daughter of a plantation owner who is overwhelmed with guilt over an accident he believes he caused to his wife. Driven to drink as his wife lies in bed with brain damage, Adam Corrigan leaves Ella to run the plantation and care for her younger sister, Honor. Granted, Ella has help in the form of loyal family slaves but it's a lot of responsibility for a young woman. For the most part, Ella is resigned to her lot, has put aside the usual preoccupations with love and marriage and has shouldered her responsibilities with grace. Ryan creates a fine portrait of her as a young woman who has moved beyond the frivolous life so many of her cohorts are leading. She's strong, brave, kind, and has a mind of her own. As family matters continue to deteriorate and war is immanent, Ella's father suggests she marry Victor Faircloth, an older man, a neighbor who has been trying to win her hand for some time. Mr. Corrigan is hoping that marriage to Faircloth will insure his daughter is taken care of and the plantation retained. Even though Ella does not expect to fall in love and marry, she is adamant that she will not marry for convenience. Besides, she finds something chilling about Faircloth.

Someone should have warned Ella never to say never. Unexpectedly, she has a chance meeting, at the beautiful pond on her property, with a rough looking frontiersman, Gentry Garland. Garland seems the antithesis of everything Ella would want in a man, so she is ashamed by her instant attraction to him and covers it with a strong dislike for him. The handling of the developing relationship between Garland and Ella is well done. When Garland abruptly disappears after pledging his love for Ella, the reader's heart is sure to break with hers.

Ella is not a stagnant character and the loss of her lover compounded by other family issues and war negatively affect her. The beautiful twist is that out of her own pain, Ella, marrying Faircloth in desperation, becomes more observant of pain in the lives of others. In particular, living on Faircloth's plantation, Ella learns why his slaves keep disappearing and how this is connected to the beautiful pond on her own plantation. Much as she regrets the loss of the beautiful life in Savannah pre war, Ella learns to question the foundation of that life. Ella's heartbreak has as reward a growth of her character and a willingness to risk her own safety to help others.

Carefully woven together, in Corrigan's Pool, the reader will find the romance of Ella and Gentry Garland, a tale of Georgians dealing with war on their doorsteps, a mystery involving the beautiful Corrigan's Pond, tales of human vice and treachery, and issues of human slavery. Ryan's attention to historical detail, lyrical flow of words, and understanding of matters of the human heart make this a must read. I've bookmarked her blog: http://www.dotryanbooks.com/ and look forward to her sequel. ( )

My Thoughts:

Corrigan’s Pool was a real treat for me. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. In the style of ‘Gone With The Wind’, Corrigan’s Pool by Dot Ryan gives us a glimpse into the tempestuous Civil War years of Savannah, Georgia, and one of its wealthy families, the Corrigan’s

We experience this story through the eyes and heart of Ella Corrigan, the oldest daughter, whose devotion to family prompts her to take on the responsibilities that should have been her ailing mother’s.

Ella is a true southern woman in breeding and heart. Her strength carries her through heartbreak and the crushing cruelty of a demented husband. She fights to protect those she cares for with the small powers afforded women of her time.

Would there ever be a future where misery and hopelessness didn’t haunt her every waking day? Could the stranger from Texas, Gentry Garland, who years earlier had given her so much to live for, be the key to her happiness? That my friends will be the question preoccupying you mind as you read Corrigan’s Pool.

Teaser Snippets:

~ Ella gasped. She had never seen a man bite a horse before. It was all she could do to retain her composure. “For Heaven’s sake, sir! What are you doing?”

~ “I dreamed of you every night.”
“I know,” she replied, just before they kissed. “I was there.” ( )