A Storm Coming
Set in the coastal plains of the British colony of North Carolina from 1710 to 1712, Chuck Locklear’s novel is based on historical Native American characters, including Jane (Runehu’hu), King Blount, Core Tom, and Kearney. It depicts the tense interactions between indigenous tribal societies and the new German and Swiss Protestant settlers encroaching on their agreed-upon territorial boundaries. The Tuscarora Indians also have intertribal disputes with the Seneca, Yamasee, and Coree tribes.
The principal narrator is Jane, whose Tuscoraran name, Runehu’hu, means “turtledove.” Because the tribe is matrilineal, Jane obeys her aunt, who is the Ukuwana or Clan Mother, Annwaraogan. She chooses Jane’s husband and is her mentor. Jane is a free spirit and becomes a scout with her friend Sagaddio, and later a fierce warrior when war breaks out. King Blount, the tribal leader, does not want war, while Core Tom not only wants war but desires Jane as his wife. Kearney is an indentured servant for the colonists who is half-Native American and comes to Jane’s rescue.
Tribal councils of war are held with all the leaders (kings) of the various tribes to decide unanimously whether to wage war to regain their territory. The Yamasee and others with strong trading ties to the colonists fight with them against the Tuscarora.
The brutal violence that erupts once war begins includes heinous slaughter on both sides, as well as the forced servitude of hundreds of native Americans loaded onto slave ships by the colonists. The themes of genocide, white supremacy, the spread of diseases like smallpox among the tribes, and indigenous versus western cultures, are carefully researched and accurately presented as we follow Jane’s dramatic adventures. This is an unusual and captivating historical novel written from the viewpoint of a strong and resourceful indigenous woman in early colonial America.
