Dean Robertson

Jessie, The Further Adventures of a Nineteenth Century Woman Dean Robertson

"Jessie, The Further Adventures of a Nineteenth Century Woman. The Virginia Years" follows the unusual life of Jessie Ashmore Hastings, a young woman from Philadelphia, as she establishes herself in Norfolk, Virginia, a coastal southern city, in the years immediately following the Civil War. Jessie arrives in Norfolk as the bride of Captain Patrick Hastings of the Army of the United States, who has returned to Norfolk, where he was stationed during the war, in hopes of making his fortune. Jessie intends to be diplomatic, to be obedient to her husband, and to maintain an orderly home. Problems arise when she holds out her hand to Patrick's important dinner guests for a firm handshake-unconventional for a woman. She discovers quickly that her husband doesn't want obedience but, to her infinite delight, would prefer to introduce her to the best sex she's ever known. Jessie shocks and charms with her straightforward talk, her firm handshake, and her low necklines. She looks for housekeepers to staff the enormous house her husband buys and ends up with a delightful group of young single mothers, not one of whom has any experience. Guests for dinner with the Hastings soon become accustomed to the occasional interruption of small boys racing through the dining room. While managing one emergency after another, Jessie always finds time to explore the pleasures of family, friends, love, and sex, as she claims her adopted city as her own. This is a novel packed with a splendid cast of characters who seem, just by being themselves, to inspire strange situations "Jessie: The Further Adventures" is a funny book, and it is a serious book. It will make you laugh and it will provoke you to think about issues that have been discussed for centuries, like the place of women, the concept of legitimacy, the idea that children should be seen and not heard. Jessie will win your heart as she takes a southern city by storm. Virginia loves her, and so will you.