Captain Hale's Covenant, by Thomas E. Crocker, is an engrossing family history about Adam Hale and his sons, who together build a mercantile empire in the fledgling town of Portland, Maine. Set between the years of 1783 and 1822, it covers a turbulent period in American history, as the young nation struggles to find its place in a global society.

The story begins when Adam, a navy veteran of the American Revolution, acquires a British map that leads to a rich supply of New England timber -- perfect to serve as ship's masts, which are much desired by the English, French and other navies of the world. The map leads to wealth and, as the years pass by, the Hale family turns its attentions to other, often profitable trade.

There are setbacks of course, but by and large the Hale family easily overcomes the odds against them. For instance, Adam's lightly armed merchant ship all too easily bests a much more powerful British frigate that menaces them on its maiden voyage. In another example, his son Seth is pressed by the British navy, but circumstances quite coincidentally take his ship to the very island where his brother lives; Seth easily tricks his way onto the captain's boat crew and without much effort eludes his shipmates to get away and find his brother's home.

Yes, everything goes far too well for Adam Hale and his family ... until, much later in the book, things start going wrong. Adam suffers terrible losses. And he doesn't accept them with much grace.

Religious undertones run throughout the book, but the family patriarch is guilty of a great deal of hubris. He believes himself a good man, and accordingly assumes God owes him a good life. Likewise, he expects an accounting for things that go wrong. For example, after one particularly harsh loss, Adam screams to the empty sky: "Why, God? Why me? Why did this happen to me? It cannot be punishment for my sins, for I have few. Have I not loved you all my life and walked in your ways? Haven't I striven to lead a blameless life?"

While he seems to believe that family is his most important asset, Adam's actions throughout the book are mostly motivated by the accumulation of wealth. When one son decides to forgo the family business and enter the ministry, Adam's sole concern is that he obtain a wealthy parish that will support him handsomely.

The book is based loosely on a true story, apparently that of the author's own ancestors. While I suppose that limited the creative directions in which Crocker could take the narrative, I put down the book for the final time feeling somewhat dissatisfied. There are no happy endings, no true sense of accomplishment at the end. The protagonist ends his life badly, it seems, while a lifelong antagonist prospers. It required an author's note at the end to give readers some inkling that it wasn't all for nothing.

The novel tells an interesting story, and Crocker writes it well. Even so, I was happy to reach the end and move on to something else.