"A remarkable novel" ("The New York Times") about America's first female soldier, Deborah Sampson Gannett, who ran away from home in 1782, successfully disguised herself as a man, and fought valiantly in the Revolutionary War.
At a time when rigid societal norms seemed absolute, Deborah Sampson risked everything in search of something better. "Revolutionary," Alex Myers's richly imagined and carefully researched debut novel, tells the story of a fierce-tempered young woman turned celebrated solider and the remarkable courage, hope, fear, and heartbreak that shaped her odyssey during the birth of a nation.
After years of indentured servitude in a sleepy Massachusetts town, Deborah chafes under the oppression of colonial society and cannot always hide her discontent. When a sudden crisis forces her hand, she decides to escape the only way she can, rejecting her place in the community in favor of the perilous unknown. Cutting her hair, binding her chest, and donning men's clothes stolen from a neighbor, Deborah sheds her name and her home, beginning her identity-shaking transformation into the imaginary "Robert Shurtliff"--a desperate and dangerous masquerade that grows more serious when "Robert" joins the Continental Army.
What follows is a journey through America's War of Independence like no other--an unlikely march through cold winters across bloody battlefields, the nightmare of combat and the cruelty of betrayal, the elation of true love and the tragedy of heartbreak. As "The Boston Globe "raves, ""Revolutionary" succeeds on a number of levels, as a great historical-military adventure story, as an exploration of gender identity, and as a page-turning description of the fascinating life of the revolutionary Deborah Sampson."

A knightly fairy tale of royalty and dragons, of midwives with secrets and dashing strangers in dark inns. Taking the original French legend as his starting point, The Story of Silence is a rich, multilayered new story for today’s world – sure to delight fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale. “Utterly enchanting� Publishers Weekly There was once, long ago, a foolish king who decreed that women should not, and would not, inherit. Thus when a girl-child was born to Lord Cador – Merlin-enchanted fighter of dragons and Earl of Cornwall – he secreted her away: to be raised a boy so that the family land and honour would remain intact. That child’s name was Silence. Silence must find their own place in a medieval world that is determined to place the many restrictions of gender and class upon them. With dreams of knighthood and a lonely heart to answer, Silence sets out to define themselves. Soon their silence will be ended.

From the author of 2020's astonishing The Story of Silence comes another retelling of a chivalric legend, full of magic, myth and self-discovery. "Utterly enchanting" Publishers Weekly Beyond the stars, two gods vie for rule of the world. One stands for Nature - the belief that everything is stamped in flesh from the start. The other, Nurture - the belief that all is potential, that the true self is coaxed out through love and living. And so, they take a bet. Each immortal selects a set of twins as their champions. The twins that prevail in contest will decide which immortal rules.... In a westerly valley, a girl and boy are born to a noble family, to be raised by a mysterious teacher - ready to love and instruct them in everything, regardless of society's expectations... To the east, a woman washes ashore on an island inhabited only by a sorcerer. With her final breaths, she gives birth to twins. These two are raised with careful neglect by the sorcerer - surrounded not with love but with danger, magic and wildness. Society expects these children to become men and women. But the immortals care nothing for human norms and raise the twins according to their own ends. Which twins will prevail? What truly matters in determining who a person will become? Taking the epic Italian legend of Orlando Furioso as his starting point, Alex Myers unravels a tale of fate, of East and West, of twinship and of heroic self-affirmation; once more translating a classic into a multilayered new story sure to delight fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale.