Penelope: A Novel of New Amsterdam

Jim McFarlane was tracing the family genealogy when he came across the story of his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother who was shipwrecked on her first day in America, was mutilated by Indians on her third day and was left for dead on the beach along with her dead husband. She survived, was ransomed, remarried, bore 10 children and lived to a ripe old age.

Fascinated by this tale, Jim studied the history of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and located (in the history books) a shipwreck that matched the scant details of Penelope's ordeal. Frustrated with the lack of facts, Jim was compelled to write Penelope as a novel, which provided opportunities to embellish with a murder mystery, pirates, banishment from Peter Stuyvesant's house, a little romance, and additional dangers for Penelope. Jim hopes that Penelope’s story of raw survival will encourage us to overcome our own troubles and hope for a better future.

Jim lives in Greer, SC with his wife. He is the father of 4 grown children, one of whom owns Greenville’s local independent bookstore, Fiction Addiction. During seven years of writing and rewriting this novel, Jim had adventures of his own: being told it was time to retire, then spending 2 years building his own house including one visit to the emergency room with lots of CAT scans (or so he was told; he doesn’t remember), and publishing this book.