All novels should entertain. Good novels should also transport; let you shed your life for a short time. At a minimum, I hope my historical fiction does both these things. If I’m really lucky and my story lands with the right reader, I hope it might even inspire, just a little.
Robin Parker is the fiery daughter of a reluctant rebel; Gillis MacLeod a highland Scot who overcomes his distrust of the English and joins the Redcoats as a means of escape. Their journeys take us from a quiet Quaker community to a traditional Tidewater tobacco farm; from an island populated only by wild horses to the fog-draped Smokies; as well as to a number of key Revolutionary War battlefields.
With a good bit of humor, a dash of spice and a colorful cast of characters, Beyond Brandywine speaks to the very human need to belong to something greater — to a family, a clan, a movement. It also gives us glimpses into the earliest manifestations of challenges still facing our nation. The discussion of these themes is subtle but as thought-provoking as is the story of two courageous individuals who dare to defy convention to harness a world of vast possibilities.
Maryland, 1668 — A small settlement clings to the shores of an unknown continent. Father Vincent Burton sees to the religious needs of the colony’s founders and administers a mission for the native Piscataway. His soul, however, is in England where he believes his true calling lies. Thomas Meade pours his sweat into the soil and is rewarded with the best trade in the colony. His success, however, has come at a high price. Edward Tulliver’s Puritan congregants seek a firm guiding hand. Edward, however, too often finds his hands — and mind — drawn to his new wife.
An unimaginably violent storm ravages the settlement, leaving a deafmute girl in its wake. The child is claimed by no one; but, as inexplicable events flow in her wake, each man sees his own passion embodied in her slight, silent form.
Offering no answers, Blessed Bea illustrates the very human impulse to filter what stands before our eyes through what lies in our hearts; to the rending of community caused by competing narratives that drive us in a wild gallop down divergent paths.
The American Revolution has come to an end. Creek Bend’s Scottish clansmen lay buried on the knoll of King’s Mountain. Branded Tories, their families have been driven into exile. Only two remain. Alexander MacDonald is a giant of a man, but his dark hair is well frosted with white. No wife or children of his own, he has willingly shouldered the care of his clansmen’s families. But, as the last of his charges set sail for Canada, Alexander turns west, to the wilds of Kentucky, where no one asks ‘Rebel’ or ‘Tory.’ For years a support to lonely men, Colleen Munro now finds herself deserted. Desperate to regain the pride she has lost; Colleen is willing to risk all for a new life.
Brought together by necessity, tempered by hard travel, and eventually united by love, a family is formed. But, can a union forged from such disparate parts withstand the challenges of life on the frontier and can the past really be left behind?
The year is 1807. Joseph Simon’s blend of Northern education and Tidewater heritage make him an ideal diplomat to represent the fledgling American government. He is returning from a mission to France when a storm finds him stranded in Haiti. After more than a decade of slave revolts and rebellion, the island has both broken from France and outlawed slavery. Not appreciating the hidden truth of his story, Joseph eases his time on the island by claiming he is of mixed birth. Noelle is the biracial daughter of a French sea captain. But with Haiti’s white leaders dead or in exile, she is struggling to find her place among the island’s new elite. Joseph and Noelle fall in love, but Joseph knows the impossibility of a union between a woman of mixed blood and a white man, particularly a man who is a rising American political star.
Leaving Noelle, Joseph returns to Washington; but, the intrigues of politics no longer enliven him. Desperate to learn all he can of his past, Joseph eventually finds his freed-slave mother, Hannah. Learning her story, and his own, he is faced with a tremendous choice — continue his political rise by living a lie or step forward and lead the fight to bring true liberty to all. And, is there room for Noelle at his side if he takes on this challenge?
