A Land Remembered

Hardbound $22.95
 Softbound $16.95

“Tobias MacIvey was thirty years old and had been in the Florida scrub for five years. He had come south out of Georgia in 1858. In his horse-drawn wagon, there was a sack of corn and a sack of sweet potatoes, a few packets of seeds, a shotgun and a few shells, a frying pan, several pewter dishes, forks, and a cast-iron pot. There were also the tools he would need to clear the land and build a house: two chopping axes, a broadaxe foot, crosscut saw, auger bit, a fro and drawing knife.”

So begins the journey of Tobias, his wife Emma, and son Zechariah in the Florida wilderness in the mid 19th century. The book is the powerful story of three generations of a family in Florida and a story portraying the tenacity of American pioneers: how they survived and prospered in an often hostile environment. There are those still around today who sat across the dinner table from grandparents and heard first-hand similar stories from those who were there when it happened.

For his quintessential story of three generations in Florida, published in 1984, Smith traveled the state and sat on front porches, swatting mosquitoes, sipping sweet tea and talking to country people about their lives and the lives of their parents and grandparents scratching a living off this land. While the novel is fiction it is based on these stories and actual events in Florida history.

Patrick Smith has the same gift that James Michener had. He is able to create characters that are molded by their relationship to the land they live in. You are able to empathize with the characters as well as feel the beauty and danger of the land.

Like Michener, each generation has its protagonist:

First Generation: Tobias MacIvey and his wife Emma, who came down from Georgia, endured the hardships of pioneer Florida and got rich in cattle and orange groves.

Second Generation: Zech MacIvey and his wife Glenda and his Seminole Indian mistress, Tawanda, by whom he has a son, Toby Cypress. Zech is an experienced gunslinger and horseman.

Third Generation: Solomon MacIvey, a powerful but sad man with a poor self-image, and his girlfriend and almost-wife, Bonnie. He realizes that his actions have destroyed the land.

There are other strong characters in the book who also represent the time period in which A Land Remembered is set: Skillit and his wife Pearlie Mae, former slaves hired by Tobias; Frog, a former drunk who becomes Tobias’s hired hand and best friend; Tawanda, Zech’s Seminole mistress and mother of his son Toby Cypress.

A Land Remembered is a must-read for anybody who loves Florida heritage and history; even people who have never visited Florida will love it as well.

– See more at: www.florida-backroads-travel.com

A Land Remembered was the winner of the Florida Historical Society Tebeau Prize as the Most Outstanding Florida Historical Novel. It has been voted Best Florida Book for 10 years in a row by readers of Florida Monthly Magazine. Patrick Smith was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for this book and following its publication, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature for his lifetime body of work.

Whether you are a Florida native, a newcomer to the state, a student of history or simply looking for an unforgettable book to read, you will love A Land Remembered. Don’t even hesitate – purchase now on the Patrick Smith family website!

  Hardbound $22.95
  Softbound $16.95

A Land Remembered is available in specially edited student volumes, available in both hardbound and softbound editions. These are very popular among younger readers and many schools use them to teach about Florida history. There are also very handy teaching guides available for elementary and middle schools. Get the youngsters in your life out from in front of the TV or the video game and let them learn the joy of reading with A Land Remembered. See them here.

Exclusive School & Book Club Discounts Available
Order 10 or more copies of A Land Remembered hardbound, softbound, or student versions and you will automatically get 10% off the regular price. You don’t have to do anything special, the shopping cart will automatically apply your discount. Schools or groups ordering 40 or more books total get a free copy of Patrick Smith’s Florida, A Sense of Place DVD in addition to the 10% discount.

This is the novel for which its author, Patrick Smith, is probably best known. A Land Remembered vividly demonstrates his keen and penetrating eye as a gifted observer of the human condition. Not a word is wasted in what many believe is the definitive story of Florida’s emergence into modern-day history.
~ Warren Resen

What an inspiring and awesome novel. Florida will never be looked at the same.
~ Jeff Griffin, Titusville, FL

I’m 3/4 of the way thru “A Land Remembered” and I get so choked up reading it, I have to clench my teeth as I tear up or laugh or am filled with an inarticulate longing for what was and will never be again!
~Rick Moss

I have read A Land Remembered several times and recommend it to all of my friends. His stories of old Florida really make history come alive. His books will continue to teach Florida history for many years to come.

~ Margaret Cooksey

I am a transplanted northerner who works with the state’s archaeological collection. Falling in love with Florida’s history is what the good citizens of Florida have paid me to do for several years now. Despite my unique view of Florida’s past, reading A Land Remembered gave me a whole new perspective on our state’s rich history, bringing it to life through the amazing characters your father created.

~M.C. Prentice

I’ve read this book multiple times to my fourth-grade students over the years. Never gets old and the students are always enthralled.

~Carrie Gerace

Have read this book twice and am going to read it again.

~Jean Hines

We listened to this wonderful book on our way from Fl to Wash DC. Be very careful…. you WILL miss exits because this book is spellbinding! It is SO hard to laugh AND cry while driving!!
~Susan Scott

I read this book every spring! Love it!
~Susan Marlowe Thompson

The BEST book I ever read. I have read it three times so far. It never gets old !!!
~Bob Baxter