In 1976 Haley published a novel 'Roots:An American Family'. So in 1939 Alex joined the US Coast Guard and had a successful 20 year career there. Then he told his parents he was dropping out of college so his father convinced Alex to join the military once he turned 18. It is a horrible way to be connected as a cousin(and nothing I am proud of)but you have to understand American history(particularly in the South in this case)and the flawed people who inhabited this part of the country and the times, and whom we come from.Īt age 15 Alex was enrolled in Alcorn State in MS and the next year went on to matriculate at Elizabeth City State College in NC.

Haley's father was Simon Haley, a professor at Alabama A & M University and Simon's mother, Bertha George Palmer Haley was a well read woman who encouraged her children to learn.Īlex Haley and I share a cousin connection through his maternal side. His family lived in Henning Tennessee, where his mother was from, for a time before returning to Ithaca NY.

(Jan.Alexander Haley was born in Ithaca, New York in 1921. Returning fans will enjoy revisiting the Buchanans new readers should begin at the beginning. The Macleans and the Buchanans happily help Conran seduce Evina, and the sensual moments keep the romance from getting tedious. Sands is skilled at crafting genuine characters with deep familial ties, but the plot slows down unnecessarily with all the updates on what has happened to each Buchanan couple since their own stories. There are a lot of Buchanan family members and friends to introduce to Evina, which detracts from the ostensibly central mystery of who wants Evina dead. As a widow who is still a virgin, Evina is a cliché, and her falling in love with Conran is predictable.

A cheerful jack-of-all-trades, Conran knows enough healing arts to keep up the charade and treat Evina’s father. She needs Rory Buchanan to heal her ill father, so she hits him over the head and drags him unconscious all the way back home-not realizing she actually has Rory’s brother Conran in tow. When headstrong Lady Evina Maclean needs something, she takes action regardless of the consequences. Sands’s seventh Highland Brides historical (after The Highlander’s Promise) is only satisfying in the context of the series.

The wrong highlander by lynsay sands