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THE AUDACITY OF HUBRIS
THE AUDACITY OF HUBRIS
By Vicky Moon
Scott Keller is a lifelong horseman and currently lives in Upperville with his wife, Belinda. His new book, “The Audacity of Hubris,” includes historical figures and the tensions of preRevolutionary War America. It is a tome of the daily struggles of a colonial Virginia farmer.
“Because my family has lived in Virginia for many generations, I wanted to incorporate parts of my family’s history interwoven with actual historical events in the Northern Proprietary, the original fivemillion acre land grant from King Charles II to Lord Fairfax (who married into the more well-connected family of Lord Colepepper (now Culpeper),” he recently told Country ZEST.
Scott began the book years ago when doing research on how the Virginia colony began and grew prior to the Revolution. “The idea originated with the odd relationships among the first families, including the Carters, Lees, Burwells and Washingtons,” he said.
Born into privilege but determined to make his own way in the world, Isaac Spotswood seeks a modest life on his own land. The land-grabbing, slave-owning ways of the British aristocrats and colonial leaders, including George Washington himself, clash with Isaac’s humble ambitions to build a home in his corner of the world.
Also told through the eyes of a British land baron and a local clergyman pursuing their own carnal interests, the characters’ lives are further complicated by the predatory behavior of the colony’s most powerful men.
Woven with historical and cultural references, “The Audacity of Hubris” follows the triumphs and heartbreaks of Isaac and the woman he loves to establish a foothold in a land filled with hostile wildlife, displaced natives, powerful aristocrats, and inflammatory revolutionaries.
Scott Keller’s vivid descriptions and exquisitely rendered relationships evoke the boundless beauty and brutal adversities of pre-Revolutionary War Virginia. “I’ve been working on this book and the upcoming Volume II for six or seven years,” he added.
Volume II will be out by mid-summer. It continues the story from the perspective of two tempestuous members of the Carter family and returns full circle from Virginia back to England. The book is available on Amazon.
