In Searching for Virginia Dare, Marjorie takes readers on a journey across eastern North Carolina and Virginia, seeking stories, scholars, and connections in the web of evidence of the survival of the 1587 English colony set on Roanoke Island during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Diverging from the path of conventional histories, Marjorie invents a mosaic form that invites memory, poetic line, fiction scenes, side trips, and introspection on the nature of family and loss as well as what it means to be an American. An entertaining journey, the book’s inventive forms have made it a focus of creative writing study from University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill to the University of Alaska–Anchorage.
Download a PDF of the complete Book Group’s Guide for Searching for Virginia Dare.
Discussion Questions
- Did you learn about the Lost Colony in school? What do you remember learning? Why are people so interested in The Lost Colony and Virginia Dare?
- Have you ever been to the Outer Banks? Do you know where Roanoke Island is? Why was its location so handy for a colony?
- What was Queen Elizabeth’s motive for creating an English colony in the New World?
- At least five disasters at sea affected the fate of the Colony. Can you name them all?
- The Spanish Armada plays a big role in the fate of the Colony. How so? Did you learn that in school when you studied English history?
- Why do you think Sir Walter Raleigh assigned the governorship of the 1587 Colony to John White, an artist? Was his artistic background a help or a hindrance in the fate of the Colony?
- What do you think happened to the colonists? To Virginia Dare? Do you have any factual evidence for your theory?
- Do you think the Elinor Dare stones are fakes? Why or why not?
- Why do you suppose that so many works of art, music, and poetry have been inspired by Virginia Dare’s story?
- By 1709, explorer John Lawson had published strong evidence that the Colonists survived on Hatteras Island and that their descendants were among the Hatteras Indians. Why do you think that information was mostly ignored for many years? What do you think about new information that the colonists survived on Hatteras for many years?