| Author/Contributor(s): | Rinaldi, Ann |
| Publisher: | Clarion Books |
| Date: | 3/1/2004 |
| Binding: | Paperback |
| Condition: | NEW |
A town under siege. A family torn between King and Congress. One girl's journey through the brutal reality of the American Revolution.
In South Carolina in 1780, fourteen-year-old Caroline sees the Revolutionary War take a terrible toll on her family and friends, and comes to understand the true nature of war.
When British forces seize Camden and occupy her family's plantation, her father is imprisoned for standing with the Patriots. Behind the polished manners of the Redcoat officers, she discovers how quickly civilized pretense gives way to cruelty.
Caroline learns her brother Johnny lies wounded in the backcountry while her sister curries favor with the British commander. Setting out with her elderly grandmother to bring him home, she confronts the bitter costs of survival in a divided land.
- Coming of Age: Caroline is forced to leave childhood innocence behind after witnessing the brutal hanging of her friend Kit Gales and enduring overnight confinement in a rebel stranger's corncrib.
- Identity and Self-Discovery: Journeying alongside Miz Melindy, an enslaved elder skilled in preparing snakeroot tea and healing poultices, Caroline uncovers complex family loyalties that defy racial boundaries.
- Race Against Time: Guiding a creaking wagon drawn by two stubborn mules, Caroline must slip past green-coated British cavalry patrols.
- Also by This Author: A Break with Charity, The Coffin Quilt and Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons.