1666

The Survival Story of the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia told through the lives of two women

The survival story of the Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia has been remembered within the tribe for generations. However, the massacre of Patawomeck men and the enslavement of women and children by land-hungry colonists in 1666 has been mostly unknown outside of the tribe until now. Author Lora Chilton, a member of the tribe through the lineage of her father, has created this powerful fictional retelling in 1666.

Told in first person point of view through the imagined lives of two women, Chilton narrates the harrowing stories of Ah'SaWei WaTaPaAnTam (Golden Fawn) and NePa'WeXo (Shining Moon). They are members of the surviving Patawomeck tribe who, after the slaughter of their men, were sold and transported to Barbados via slave ship. Separated and bought by different sugar plantations, they endured, each plotting their escapes before finally making their way back to Virginia to be reunited with the few members of the tribe that remained.