Marikes World

Romance during the American Revolution is dramatic and dangerous in Rae's ninth novel (after Sunlight on a Broken Column), which carries a heavy load of historic detail and twisty plotting. Marike Dykeman, who grew up in a strict, practical Dutch family in New York, tells the story of her life in an account written for her daughter. At 17, Marike falls in love with handsome Philip Bogardus. They plan to marry, but just after Bogardus is called to fight the British, Marike discovers she is pregnant. Concocting a lie to save her reputation, Marike claims she was raped and is sent upstate to her uncle's farm to have the baby. But Philip returns from the war, and after they marry, Marike endures further trials from her mother-in-law. These events are a mere backdrop for a turbulent tale that includes evil spinster sisters, murder, kidnapping, sexual slavery and one heroic Indian named Tanka. At times, the narrative is disjointed, breaking character and tone to bluntly describe historic events (""Although Cornwallis had been defeated in Yorktown on the nineteenth of October 1781, New York remained under British domination until 1783... ""). Marike also volleys unconvincingly from worldly to excessively na ve (after being kidnapped and taken to what is plainly a bordello, she just can't grasp what goes on in such a place). Fortunately, such contrivances are made palatable by Rae's enthusiastic narration. (July)