Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove

Opening Atlantis is an Alternate History book, and in this case, it could be summed up as follows. "What if the entire East coast of North America was a separate island, located thousands of miles and slightly to the south and east of the rest of the continent, and was discovered and colonized by English and Basque Fishermen?"

The book follows the family of the first English fishermen to discover "Atlantis", which he names. He is shown the land by a Basque fisherman who also eventually settles on the island, and both start towns there. Edward Radcliffe, the English Fisherman, is eventually killed many years later by an English Lord come to take over the town of New Hastings for his own. But killing Edward Radcliffe is a mistake, as his two sons help the townspeople rise in rebellion and kill the interloper. One of the sons is an explorer and finds a new bay to settle around, which becomes the town of Avalon.

The second part of the story takes place there, where one of the Radcliffe's has become a pirate, and his cousin, furious over his staining of the family name (despite the fact the pirate brother has dropped the "e" from his last name), calls on the Dutch to help him besiege his brother in Avalon, which has become a pirate port. The expedition to besiege the town and put the pirates to the sword is covered, as well as all the battles.

The last part of the book shows how far Atlantis has fallen from the vision Edward Radcliffe had from it when he founded New Hastings, for the English-controlled part of New Avalon has gone to war with the French part, and one of the Radcliffes is serving in the army going up against the French, who are captained by a descendant of the Basque fisherman who originally discovered the continent.

This was an interesting book, but it certainly didn't set me on fire. I am more chagrined at how long it took me to figure out, based on the cover picture, that "Atlantis" was the East coast (plus the entirety of Florida) of the US and Canada (Newfoundland, mainly). The three stories that make up the book are interesting, but I never found the characters all that interesting or engaging. Nothing that made me want to read more of Harry Turtledove. Perhaps it's just a sign I shouldn't read any more of his books.