To Have and To Hold (Johnston novel)

This article is about To Have and To Hold (Johnston novel). For other uses of the term To Have and To Hold, please see To Have and To Hold (disambiguation).

To Have and To Hold is a historical novel published in 1899 by American author Mary Johnston. In 1900, it was the best-selling novel in the United States. The novel is now in the public domain, and a free copy of it can be obtained at Project Gutenberg.

Brief plot summary, with spoilers

An English soldier living in colonial Jamestown (Virginia colony) buys a wife for himself off of a ship from England, little knowing that the woman he married is the ward of King James I and has fled from a forced marriage. The new couple's marriage gets off to a rocky start. Then, the Englishman who had intended to marry the lady turns up in Virginia, attempts to kidnap, and follows the couple and their friends as they escape from the King's orders to arrest the soldier and carry the lady back to England. While fleeing, they are all (Englishman, soldier, lady and friends) accosted by pirates, who agree to take the soldier as their captain after he pretends to be the pirate "Kirby". The pirates play along with the soldier's masquerade leadership, until he refuses to allow them to harm others. When they try to do so anyway, one of the colonists wrecks the ship, the pirates are all killed, and the colonists (and the pursuing Englishman) are all rescued by a ship bearing the new Virginian governor.

Upon the testimony of the persecuting Englishman, the soldier is tried for piracy, but the lady, having come to love the soldier, speaks for him. Her words are so persuasive that the Governor believes her and frees him, and they return to Virginia. Still, the soldier is forced to be held in jail per the King's orders. The Englishman causes the soldier to be captured by Indians, and during that fight, the Englishman is so terribly wounded that he takes poison which will soon end his life. While an Indian captive, the soldier learns that the Indians plan to attack Jamestown settlers. After many travails, the soldier manages to reach the colony with a warning just in time for them to mount a defense. After the attack is rebuffed, the soldier learns that his wife is missing, having gone into the forest prior to the attack with a friend in order to search for her soldier husband. The soldier begins a long, seemingly futile search. Eventually, he finds his wife and friend both well, and the couple are reunited.

At the end of the story, the couple intends to go to England, where the lady's lands have been restored to her and where they can finally live in peace.