Devon, England 1805. James Morgan, a 10 year old orphan runs away
from a brutal life slaving on a farm. After narrowly escaping the
hangman's rope from an incident in a coastal town, he stows away in
an American cargo ship heading for Charleston South Carolina. He is
soon found but is treated well by the elderly captain who becomes
his guardian when he retires from the sea after they disembark.
They live for seven years near the Mississippi river where James
completes his education and develops a precocious gift of using the
English language. When he reaches seventeen years of age, his
guardian dies and he moves down river to New Orleans and finds work
in a gambling saloon. He meets Harry Parfitt, the disowned son of a
millionaire father at the moment he is facing death after having
been accused of cheating. Using his skill with words, James
persuades the other card players to put away their daggers. From
that day, Parfitt refers to James as 'Gentle' Morgan. They have
several adventures in the dangerous Swamp area of New Orleans
before war breaks out with Great Britain and they have many more
when they go to sea to fight the enemy. They are eventually
captured and taken to Dartmoor, a notorious prison in England. An
American prisoner already there is a massively built black slave
called Richard Crafus who has been bribed by the prison governor to
report anyone planning to riot or escape, for which the penalty is
death. Parfitt and James suffer considerable hardship but make
friends with a French prisoner from the Napoleonic wars in Europe
and develop an extraordinary plan to break out that relies on
taking Crafus with them. Although the escape is successful and they
become friends with the huge man who helped them capture a ship,
more trouble awaits when they return to America and Crafus is
convicted as a runaway slave and arrested to return to the
plantation .
General
Imprint: |
Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
June 2012 |
First published: |
June 2012 |
Authors: |
Paul Wheeler
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback - Trade
|
Pages: |
332 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4750-1077-0 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
Genre fiction >
Historical fiction
|
LSN: |
1-4750-1077-X |
Barcode: |
9781475010770 |
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