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| Category: Fiction:Historical:American Revolution |
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| About the Book | |
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The story is ground-breaking in opening up an ignored chapter in American history – the persistent connections maintained with Britain by many Americans, including some who enthusiastically espoused the cause of independence. Family connections make it possible for James and Sarah to marry under the protection of the Montgomeries of Eglinton Castle in Ayrshire. The British general who is their host had served in the French and Indian Wars and knows America well. This relationship proves to be a mixed blessing since the general is obliged to put James to a test of his loyalty to the Crown. How James handles that predicament and the unforeseen results for the couple, running up unavoidably against a renegade Scot who loathes the Hanoverian dynasty on the British throne, is one of the intriguing aspects of the story. James also has the mission of searching out the intentions of a fellow New Jersey officer of the 60th Royal Americans. How he honorably copes with this officer, Thomas Hutchins, later Geographer of the United States, reveals more of the complex character of James. James’s loyalty in another respect is tested by an increasing entanglement with a troubled and irresistible woman of Savannah, where James serves during the successful defense of that city against the Franco-American siege of 1779. Plots interweave in that Cartwright has a hold over the lady, putting James in danger – a danger which dogs both James and Sarah throughout their three-year stay in New York with Army headquarters. What will the British departure from the city mean for the family? What outcome awaits their unexpected meetings with former enemies?
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| Reviews | |
A splendid book, historically accurate, easy to read and a gripping story. Highly recommended. Dr Frederick knows his subject in depth but has chosen to tell his tale as a novel. This takes the form of an icing-crust of amateur spy work with sugar violets of light romance, covering an excellent plum-cake of history: battles lost and won, loyalties weighed against each other, hopes, lost chances, victories and disasters, not invented to make a story but as they actually happened. The result is a very readable light novel and at the same time an historical eye-opener. Mr. Frederick's work is admirable as he takes years of study of military history and his own genealogical research to create a novel that is good story telling and historically accurate. "A Royal American" does fill a need in telling the tale of the American Revolution from a unique point of view. And fortunate for his readers that author's ancestors - the dutiful soldier and adventurer James Ricketts and his beautiful and competent wife Sarah - make such a compelling story.
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| About the Author | |
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He is an Anglican priest who went to Princeton. He is a recognized authority on the lineage of the British Army and served in the New Jersey Army National Guard, and was once Governor of the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New Jersey. |