Audrey Blanshard: A Virginian at Venncombe

A Virginian at Venncombe is the last Audrey Blanshard book illustrated by Allan Kass that I own. It was published in 1976 and is the story of Caroline, who meets Thaddeus Forbes, an American naval surgeon and prisoner of war during the War of 1812. She falls in love with him and nothing or no one is going to keep her from marrying him!

Allan Kass paints an interesting picture of our couple. Our hero is dashing in his American uniform and red hair while our heroine is young and cute in her long black unbound hair and simple purple day dress. The setting is interesting because the estate grounds seem to describe the heroine, but the ocean in the background seems to describe our hero and his home far away.

The War of 1812 was fought mainly because of British impediment of American trade with France and impressment of American citizens into the Royal Navy. One interesting fact is that the American National Anthem was written about a battle in Baltimore that happened during this war.