Tim Robinson (5)

As a native Floridian whose roots are deeply embedded among the pre-civil war pioneers of Florida, I must give Tim Robinson credit where credit is due. As a boy, I sat and listened to my parents and older friends, family and acquaintances talk of Florida’s pioneer days, many of them having lived while Florida was still open range. Cow hunting today technically remains much the same although now it is confined to ranches and the days of cattle drives to Punta Rassa have long passed away. show more However, Mr. Robinson has captured the heart and independence of the Florida pioneers and even today’s Florida cowboys in The Cow Hunters.
Billy and Bo Hackensaw are teenaged independent free-spirits when events begin to shape their lives. First, they encounter a brindled cur cow catch dog, Mudge, that battled a wild hog to the death, but was injured in the process. After nursing Mudge back to health, they soon encounter Josiah Walsh, a cattleman from farther north on the Kissimmee River, who makes a deal with them for horses and equipment, then teaches them to catch and mark Spanish cattle from the range. Thanks to Josiah Walsh, their mold is cast as cattlemen, and Billy and Bo never look back.
Throughout, The Cow Hunters reads much like a memoir of a close friend or relative of the Hackensaw boys. They’re followed through the growth of their business, Billy’s courtship and marriage to Becky, the coming of their children, Granny and Elijah coming to live with them after Josiah Walsh’s death, and the relationship between their family and the rest of the Hackensaws a few miles away on the coast. The story is highlighted by the dramatic arrival of Madeline, Bo’s mixed feeling about her, and Little Joe’s mixed feelings about Daisy Parker. The story is complicated by Tommy, a crazy half-breed murderer, and by the onset of the Civil War.
Mr. Robinson’s main characters are likeable, and all of them have both strengths and weaknesses. Billy, Becky and Bo Hackensaw are easy to like. Granny is easy to like but has an inflexible streak honed by hard experience. Little Joe has personal issues left over from his father and his earlier life, but has a huge heart and uses it. I teetered on the edge of feeling some empathy for Tommy because of his inner anger but in the end, I had to feel that Tommy’s misfortunes were his alone to bear.
Congratulations to Tim Robinson for writing a thoroughly enjoyable, and believable Florida historic fiction novel. Anyone with interest in Florida history, cowboy history, antebellum history or just wanting an excellent entertaining story will do well to read A Tropical Frontier: The Cow Hunters. 5-STARS Clabe Polk show less

I won this book in a goodreads giveaway, and I'd been entering for awhile. The premise of the story interested me and it definitely held up to it's hook. While at first I found the small jumps in time a little harsh, as I easily became invested in the characters it became smoother overall. There are a few jumps that you need more than a few paragraphs to get up to speed, mainly because of the switch in which character we were following. Other than that, this definitely reels you in to the show more history and the growth of the people and the area. The text is rich in descriptive nature without being redundant and has a nice sprinkling of humor throughout. I look forward to following the characters into the next books and I could see this becoming a great mini-series with its wide range of characters and adventure. show less

Tim Robinson has managed to capture the roots of pioneer families in southeastern Florida is a manner that is both entertaining and brimming with historical perspective. He presents stories of the MacLeods, the Dawsons, the Hackensaws, and their relatives and neighbors from about the year 1820 until the end of the civil war, a span of nearly fifty years in an area along Florida’s east coast stretching from St. Augustine to Cape Florida and the upper keys. A work of historic fiction, Tales show more of Old Florida reads like a blow by blow narrative of the lives of real people living in a tough, remote and isolated environment.
Beginning with beach-combing along Biscayne Bay’s barrier islands for the remains of ship-wrecks and progressing through the establishment of the Hackensaw homestead near Jupiter and Bobbie Hackensaw’s coastal freight business, and through the Union blockades of the Civil War, Robinson gives us larger than life characters in Will Dawson, Nathan MacLeod, Charlie MacLeod and Bobby Hacksensaw; and heroic women in Mary Ann MacLeod, Elizabeth Dawson, Abigail Hackensaw and Sally MacLeod. In this book, Mr. Robinson lays the groundwork for The Cowhunters, the story of Billy and Bo Hackensaw, and The Gladesman, the later story of Betsy Dawson and Samuel Jesup and the origin of Maggie Hooker, Nels Prescot’s target to be in The Gladesman.
Mr. Robinson does of great job of developing complex characters that each have their own personal devils to fight down. He does an equally great job of placing them in their historic context and facing them with the real challenges of their era.
A Tropical Paradise: Tales of Old Florida is bound to please any fan of Florida history, or any fan of historic fiction generally. The story is plausible and well researched and, for me, it was joy to read. 5-stars. Clabe Polk show less

Tim Robinson has produced a series of books about pioneer Florida; the Florida of the 1800s when a sprinkling of hearty American frontier families, a few Spanish settlers and Native Americans of Seminole and Muskogee lineage were the sole inhabitants of Florida, and survival often required a combination of common sense, hard work, personality, sometimes meanness, and always helping each other in order to get by. Even so, pioneer life in Florida was one of isolation for many families; show more especially those like Nelson (“Nels”) and Jenny Prescott. The Gladesman is the story of how the Prescott’s lived in the late 1880s when civilization in the Lake Worth area was confined to a narrow ridge between the Lake and the endless tracks of cypress and sawgrass that were the Everglades.
Nels Prescott was raised by his grandfather in the Everglades and the glades are all he knows. He enjoys the isolation at his camp some twenty-five miles into the Everglades from Port Starboard on Lake Worth. He particularly enjoys the hunting and fishing, but most of all he enjoys harassing the Seminoles who think he’s crazy and avoid him whenever possible. Nels’ Kentucky mail order bride, Jenny, is pregnant. Nels knows next to nothing about pregnancy, but knows everything about hunger and decent cooking; most of all he knows that no matter how hard Jenny tries, she does not know how to cook. When Nels sets out to kidnap the best cook in Lake Worth, Maggie Hooker, who is the black post mistress of the Port Star board Post Office, lead singer for the church’s Christmas cantata, chief cook for the Starboard Hotel and wife of Booker T. Hooker, all Hell breaks loose resulting in a man-hunt that can only be truly appreciated by those who have personally experienced the Everglades.
Tim Robinson has created an entertaining cast of characters all of which have unique personalities that give them their own unique role in the story. One might be tempted to say “come now, characters like this don’t really exist” (the French Count for example) but upon a moment’s reflection one realizes that they not only exist, but were just the type of personalities that thrived in the relative isolation of pioneer Florida. The strength of the personalities guarantee conflict between individuals even when united for a common purpose and Mr. Robinson does a great job of painting the conflicts in vivid colors.
The Gladesman will be appreciated by anyone who is a fan of historical novels, Florida history, or anyone who is just looking for a good, sometimes humorous, read. Most of all, it will be appreciated by those of us who are native Floridians and have spent at least a little time in the Everglades who understand their unique nature and the special human temperament required to survive there. FIVE STARS, Clabe Polk show less