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ABOUT THE BOOK
Scattered Seeds
Julie Doherty
Genre: Historical fiction, elements of romance
Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing
Date of Publication: April 27, 2016
ISBN: 1-68291-050-4
ASIN: B01E056H1Q
Number of pages: 339
Word Count: 100,000
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde
Book Description:
In 18th century Ireland, drought forces Edward and Henry McConnell to assume false names and escape to America with the one valuable thing they still own–their ancestor’s gold torc.
Edward must leave love behind. Henry finds it in the foul belly of The Charming Hannah, only to lose it when an elusive trader purchases his sweetheart’s indenture.
With nothing but their broken hearts, a lame ox, and a torc they cannot sell without invoking a centuries-old curse, they head for the backcountry, where all hope rests upon getting their seed in the ground. Under constant threat of Indian attack, they endure crushing toil and hardship. By summer, they have wheat for their reward, and unexpected news of Henry’s lost love. They emerge from the wilderness and follow her trail to Philadelphia, unaware her cruel new master awaits them there, his heart set on obtaining the priceless torc they protect.
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/bNzrVFnl9Ts
GUEST POST BY THE AUTHOR
Thank you for allowing me a little space on your blog today.
As a writer of historical fiction, I spend a fair amount of time each July 4th thinking about the stalwart forefathers who sacrificed everything for our independence.
Did you know there was another noteworthy July 4th, one rarely acknowledged? That July 4th happened in 1754, and it’s every bit as important as the one we celebrate today. Let me take you there, pictorially. We’ll have ourselves a little bloggy field trip.
First, you need to know something about the America of 1754. Much of this land was yet a vast wilderness. The British held territory from Philadelphia to the eastern Appalachians. The French and their native allies controlled the fur-rich regions to the west.
Poor conditions in Europe forced waves of desperate folks to the British colonies. Most had no choice but to seek a plot of their own in the backwoods, often past the official British boundary.
The French responded to the sudden influx of British settlers by planning a line of forts from Canada southward. The British could not tolerate this, as a fortified north-south border would not only halt migration, but also risk the French pushing them off the lands they’d already settled. They decided to build forts of their own.
In late May, young George Washington (I wonder if he still had his own teeth? Check ‘em out!) arrived for reconnoitering at a large natural clearing in present-day Fayette County, Pennsylvania. It was the perfect setting for a base camp. There was plenty of water and—ta da!—grass for his animals.
The French found out about the camp and sent Joseph Coulon de Villiers southeast from Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh) to tell Washington to pack his crap and get off their territory.
Determined to confront the French commander on his own terms, Washington marched all night with forty men to this spot, where he easily surrounded de Villiers and his men:
It’s called Jumonville Glen now, and it’s as serene a place as I’ve ever been. It is hard to picture anything brutal happening here, but it did. Some idiot fired a musket (probably my ancestor), and all hell broke loose. Fifteen minutes later, George Washington declared victory and took the French commander prisoner. He intended to treat him with the courtesies due a captured military officer. However, the natives accompanying him adhered to no such rules. In fact, they saw the humane treatment of an enemy as weakness.
Without warning, the Mingo chief accompanying Washington grabbed a tomahawk and bashed in the French commander’s brains. Washington was no doubt mortified, not only because the murder broke all rules of known civility, but because he knew that when word of the incident reached Fort Duquesne, the Frenchman’s brother, a captain, would vow revenge.
He was not mistaken.
Washington and his men hastily constructed a fort, a circular stockade made of 7-foot-high upright logs. They covered it with bark and skins. Inside, a tiny hut housed ammunition and provisions.
Washington called for reinforcements, and by July 1st, he had nearly 400 troops under his command, some of them listed HERE. It would not be enough to defeat the large force of French and Indians advancing on them. On July 2nd, Washington ordered his men to dig trenches. On the rainy morning of July 3rd, the French and their Indian allies arrived. A battle broke out. The rain turned torrential, and filled the trenches Washington’s bedraggled men had dug only the day before. Everything was drenched, including the gunpowder, which silenced Washington’s weapons.
The fight was over.
The French commander sent an officer under a white flag to negotiate surrender. He warned that if Washington did not yield the fort at once, he would unleash the Indians. Having witnessed native brutality firsthand, Washington agreed to the terms, which were given to him in writing. Had he been able to read French, he probably wouldn’t have signed the document, for it was essentially a confession to the “assassination” of the French officer, Joseph Coulon de Villiers at what is now Jumonville Glen.
On July 4, Washington and his troops abandoned Fort Necessity.
Should you wish to visit any of these sites in person, you can learn more here.
PURCHASE LINK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julie Doherty expected to follow in her artist-father’s footsteps, but words, not oils, became her medium. Her novels have been called “romance with teeth” and “a sublime mix of history and suspense.”
Her marriage to a Glasgow-born Irishman means frequent visits to the Celtic countries, where she studies the culture that liberally flavors her stories. When not writing, she enjoys cooking over an open fire at her cabin, gardening, and hiking the ridges and valleys of rural Pennsylvania, where she lives just a short distance from the farm carved out of the wilderness by her 18th century “Scotch-Irish” ancestors.
She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Central Pennsylvania Romance Writers, Perry County Council of the Arts, and Clan Donald USA.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliedohertywrites/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SquareSails
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/532434.Julie_Doherty
Blog: http://juliedoherty.com/blog
GIVEAWAY (SPONSORED AND ADMINISTRATED BY BEWITCHING BOOK TOURS)
$30 Amazon gift card
5 free Kindle copies of SCATTERED SEEDS
Thanks very much for letting this history nerd share a bit on your blog today.