Truly a story that travels from sea to shining sea and spans the years from earliest beginnings of the United States to today. It is part memoir, part mystery, and part historical fiction. Parts of the story are written in the first person and parts from the third person points of view. There are a lot of threads to weave together into a coherent and entertaining tale.
The “pigeon’s blood” ruby is a set in a mysterious ring that appears on the finger in the portrait of a historic lady that hangs over the fireplace of Neil Hallett. The ring is allegedly from the treasure of the pirate, Sam Bellamy, captain of the notorious Wydah—another neat loop in Struna’s tale. Hallett, the thief, is descended from a thief. New England, and Cape Cod in particular, is filled with family history. The graveyards are filled with Bangs, Swetts, Allens, and Brewsters. They were settlers, fishermen, and ministers. The fictional Walter Ellis of this story was a fisherman, whose livelihood was cut short by the destruction of his ship in the Portland Gale of 1898. Leaving his family, he sets off to find gold in Alaska.
By a twist of fate, he is set upon by thugs on the streets of Seattle, and misses his passage to Alaska and separated from his friends. When he recovers, he signs on to another ship owned by a millionaire named E.H. Harriman, a railroad tycoon. In 1899, Harriman sponsored and accompanied a scientific expedition to catalog the flora and fauna of the Alaska coastline. Many prominent scientists and naturalists went on the expedition, aboard the luxuriously refitted 250-foot steamer, SS George W. Elder. Struna’s fictional Walter Ellis signed aboard to complete his journey to Juneau. Another twist of fate, burns and disfigures Ellis, and causes him to lose the sight of one eye and putting him into the hospital in Juneau where he is cared for by an attractive Indigenous nurse.
These aspects of history are interwoven with present day Nancy Caldwell, history detective. She is the link that connects Provincetown to Juneau and the past to the present. Nancy has a son who happens to be living in Alaska near where Walter Ellis ended up. During a familial visit she acquires the remnants of a letter and a wallet discovered by a young girl in a cleft in a rock.
Nancy is an antiques sleuth, and when she returns to Cape Cod she is invited to survey the contents of an old house in Provincetown. Neil Hallett is also interested in the contents of the house, and Struna begins to weave the stories into an interesting tapestry. Will Walter abandon hopes of returning to his family and marry the beautiful nurse? Will the Tlingit tribe accept him? Will his wife remarry, declaring Walter dead? Will Neil Hallett find the ruby before Nancy Caldwell does?
This is a complicated story with Struna juggling all the different elements. As a reader, I could feel her joy at bringing the past to life. An old house is full of memories from all the lives that have passed through it. This is a well researched, well founded, and interesting tale that satisfies an interest in history, twisted into a gentle and loving mystery. It is respectful of Indigenous Alaskan people as well as the present day residents of Cape Cod while honoring the use of the reader’s time.