This stirring novel of the American Revolution in South Carolina traces the fortunes of a boy caught in the conflicting loyalties of his time. At the beginning, in February of 1780, fourteen-year-old Alexander MacLeod is an unquestioning king’s man, though not anxious to fight. Eight months later, he is a committed Patriot, in the service of Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox.
Alec dreaded the return of the redcoats to Fort Ninety-six, partly because of the frightening things his fey grandmother had foretold for him. Still, nothing prepared Alec for the particular horrors he witnessed when the war came. Hanging, murder, and mayhem by men he had considered allies drove him to leave home and join Marion in the costal swamps, resolved never to wear a red coat. Yet, when Alec’s battle finally came, he found himself in a nightmarish dilemma, his conviction and courage tested unbearably.
Rich, closely textured, and absorbing, with historical and created characters vividly alive, this carefully plotted tale captures a little-known facet of the Revolution and makes it forever memorable.
For readers age 11 and above.
“Son of a Gaelic-speaking king's man, grandson of fey, far-seeing rebel Jonet Munn, Alexander McLeod finds himself fighting on both sides of the Revolution--once, willingly, as courier for the Swamp Fox Francis Marion, twice pressed into service under the "White Beast" Colonel Tarleton and, later, the "Red Beast" Major Patrick Ferguson. The well researched outlook on how the war affected a divided family in a backwater locality...a wee glimpse of South Carolina's Highland Scots, the braw gallant followers of the Swamp Fox, and the Gamecock General Sumter.” Kirkus Reviews
