Revolutionary

Revolutionary

Author: Alex Myers
Desc: "Myers presents an incredibly complex protagonist in Deborah whose gender identity is not taken as a given." - Lambda Book Report “A novel of the American Revolution by a writer who is himself a true American revolutionary.” —Mark Edmundson author of Why Teach? In 1782 during the final clashes of the Revolutionary War one of our young nation’s most valiant and beloved soldiers was secretly a woman. When Deborah Samson disguised herself as a man and joined the Continental Army she wasn’t just fighting for America’s independence--she was fighting for her own. Revolutionary Alex Myers’s richly imagined and meticulously researched debut novel brings the true story of Deborah’s struggle against a rigid colonial society back to life--and with it the courage hope fear and heartbreak that shaped her journey through a country’s violent birth. After years as an indentured servant in a sleepy Massachusetts town chafing under the oppressive norms of colonial America Deborah can’t contain her discontent any longer. When a sudden crisis forces her hand she decides to finally make her escape. Embracing the peril and promise of the unknown she cuts her hair binds her chest and stealing clothes from a neighbor rechristens herself Robert Shurtliff. It’s a desperate dangerous and complicated deception and becomes only more so when as Robert she enlists in the Continental Army. What follows is an inspiring one-of-a-kind journey through an America torn apart by war: brutal winters and lethal battlefields the trauma of combat and the cruelty of betrayal the joy of true love and the tragedy of heartbreak. In his brilliant Revolutionary Myers who is a descendant of the historical Deborah takes full advantage of this real-life heroine’s unique voice to celebrate the struggles for freedom large and small like never before.