The Lees of Menokin

The Lees of Menokin is a biographical novel about the life and marriage of Virginia planter and statesman Francis Lightfoot Lee, a dedicated patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Frank Lee has known Becky Tayloe since she was an infant, yet when he happens upon her on an idyllic spring day in Williamsburg in 1768, he is amazed and enchanted by the beautiful young woman she has become. The encounter proves a fateful one for the charming ladies’ man and consummate bachelor—although Becky is half his age, the pair fall quickly and deeply in love. Frank and Becky marry a few years before the American Revolution begins and their lives are drastically altered.

The Lees of Menokin is a biographical novel about the life and marriage of Virginia planter and statesman Francis Lightfoot Lee, a dedicated patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Francis Lee married Rebecca Tayloe a few years before the American Revolution began. Frank has known Becky Tayloe since she was an infant, yet when he happens upon her on an idyllic spring day in Williamsburg in 1768, he is amazed and enchanted by the beautiful young woman she has become. The encounter proves a fateful one for the charming ladies’ man and consummate bachelor—although Becky is half his age, the pair fall quickly and deeply in love. On a sprawling thousand-acre estate they build the house they name Menokin, all a wedding gift from her father. Yet even as the Lees settle into married life, the suffocating grip of England tightens on the American colonies. Frank’s position in the House of Burgesses earns him a seat in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, where he spends four long years and joins fifty-five other patriots in signing the Declaration of Independence. War soon erupts in the colonies, sweeping the Lees along in its turbulent wake. As they move from Virginia to Pennsylvania to Maryland and back again, Frank and Becky find their marriage tested by the demands of political life and the chaos of war. Yet through it all, they hold fast to their abiding love for one another, true partners facing the struggles of life in a fledgling nation. Colonial Virginia and the American struggle for independence come alive in this exciting biographical novel.

Suzanne Semsch has been writing for her own enjoyment and professionally for many years. The Lees of Menokin, her first novel, published in 2009, is based on the life and times of Francis Lightfoot Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. She drew on her experiences as the daughter and wife of career Army officers for her second book, The Sound of Caissons, an epic covering five generations of a mid-20th century military family. Although she’s lived in many states and Europe, she and her husband spent 23 years in Virginia’s Northern Neck. Her recollections and love for the region were the inspiration for Turn on No-Bridge Road and the fictional Woodbine Farm. She has just completed a fourth novel, The Widow Darling, a sequel to No-Bridge Road. Suzanne currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. She is a mother and a grandmother and the happy owner of two cats. Her books are available, both in paperback and on Kindle, through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookbaby and other online booksellers. They may also be purchased directly from the author by contacting her on her website/blog at http://suzannesemsch.com.