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Summary
Summary
As the War for Independence wore on into the 1780s, unrest ruled the Carolinas. Settlers who had cleared the land after the Cherokees withdrew were being mustered for battle as British forces pillaged their hard-won farms. Robert Morgan's stunning novel tells a story of two people caught in the chaos raging in the wilderness.
After sixteen-year-old Josie Summers murders her abusive stepfather, she runs away from home disguised as a boy. Lost in the woods, she accepts a young preacher's invitation to assist in his itinerant ministry. Eventually her identity is revealed and affection grows between the two. But when the preacher is kidnapped by British soldiers, Josie disguises herself once again and joins the militia in a desperate attempt to find him.
Brave Enemies is a page-turning story of people brought together by chance and torn apart by war--a story of enduring love and of the struggle to build a homeland.
Author Notes
Acclaimed author of best-seller "Gap Creek".
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
With tremendous narrative pace, a meticulous eye for colorful detail and a tight grasp of historical setting and military action, poet and novelist Morgan (Gap Creek) delivers a rousing and affecting tale of the American Revolution. This gripping story of love and desperation is set in the brutal rebel-versus-loyalist bloodbath of 1780-1781 in North and South Carolina. Sixteen-year-old Josie Summers, a barefoot mountain girl, runs away from home after killing the stepfather who raped her. Alone, scared and hungry, having witnessed all kinds of violence, Josie disguises herself as a boy and is given shelter by an itinerant preacher, Rev. John Trethman. The preacher soon discovers her deception, but they become devoted to one another, and John marries her in a solitary ceremony. The two continue the deception to fool his congregation and the British authorities who are ruthlessly hunting for spies and seditionists. When John is taken prisoner by the British, who think he is a spy, Josie, now pregnant, believes her husband is dead. Still disguised as the boy Joseph, she joins a South Carolina militia company marching to the fateful battle at Cowpens in January 1781. Josie endures hunger, cold, grief, fear of discovery and the dangerous attentions of a cruel sergeant who guesses her secret. Meanwhile, John is forced to become a chaplain for the murderous dragoon legion commanded by sadistic Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton. Tarleton and his Tories are also marching to Cowpens, to a battle which will become known as the American Cannae. Morgan's portrayal of the savagery of the Southern war is graphic and shocking, making the love between Josie and John all the more tender and passionate. 15-city author tour. (Oct. 10) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Morgan has fashioned an absorbing Revolutionary War novel featuring an unusually resourceful heroine. Disguised as a man, 16-year-old Josie Summers escapes from a life of madness and exploitation after murdering her sexually and emotionally abusive stepfather. Traveling the Carolina backcountry, she crosses paths with John Trethman, an evangelical preacher who befriends the boy he knows as Joseph. When John discovers that his new housemate is really a female, he is torn between anger and love. Hoping to absolve their sins, Josie and John privately marry, still keeping her identity a secret. Shortly thereafter, John is kidnapped by British troops and forced to serve as their minister. After Josie sets out after John, she is forced into service as a member of the North Carolina militia, where she attempts to keep both her gender and her pregnancy concealed. Sustained by love and faith, Josie and John survive their respective ordeals, eventually reuniting on the heels of a horrific battle. The homespun dialogue and understated narrative authenticate this heartrending period peace. --Margaret Flanagan Copyright 2003 Booklist
Kirkus Review
Disguised as a boy, the 16-year-old wife of a Methodist circuit rider sees action in the 1781 revolutionary battle at Cowpens. How the lass comes to be toting a rifle is the bulk of southern specialist Morgan's (This Rock, 2001, etc.) latest bit of Carolina history, which opens and closes with scenes from that pivotal battle. Having driven an axe into the skull of the creepy stepfather who raped her, teenager Josie Summers has thought it best to flee her mother's Carolina homestead. Disguised in her stepfather's clothes and with her pretty hair hacked off, Josie stumbles off into the dark and roadless colonial interior with no plan other than to put some distance between herself and the crime scene. After days of fearful and freezing travel, she stumbles into a church and warms to the spiritual glow spread by the Reverend John Trethman, an unusually well-educated frontier clergyman. Hitherto unchurched and largely skeptical, Josie is attracted both to Trethman's message of salvation and to his charisma, and, with no other plans, she is happy to follow in his circuit, becoming his assistant. Fooled by the disguise, Trethman is happy to have such a bright lad to assist in the services, but their travel from church to church has led the King's forces to suspect the minister of espionage, and the couple begin to receive warnings from the edgy settlers. Trethman's inevitable discovery of Josie's true gender leads first to some surprisingly steamy frontier sex and then to a self-administered wedding. Before the two can figure out how to break the news to the congregations, Trethman is badly burned in a forest fire and then captured by the redcoats, and Josie has to hit the road, where she'll be swept up into the colonial army. Grim but interesting history, with excellent battle scenes. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Morgan's (Gap Creek) latest novel, set in his native North Carolina, tells the compelling story of two young people whose lives are shaped by the Revolutionary War. Josie Summers is only 16 when she is raped by her stepfather and rejected by her unbalanced mother. After killing her stepfather, Josie disguises herself as a boy and runs away. Lost in the woods, she stumbles upon a church and is befriended by the young Rev. John Trethman. Josie keeps her true identity concealed while living with John, but when he discovers that she is a girl, he marries her to avoid scandal. Not long after, John is seized by British soldiers, and Josie again dresses as a man and joins the North Carolina militia to avoid being hanged as a spy. Told in alternating first-person segments, John and Josie's story is one of perseverance and determination. Morgan's background as a poet is evident in the graceful language and luminous description of the countryside and in the introspectiveness and humanity of his characters. Though the horrors of battle are explicitly conveyed, the reader is left with hope for the future. Recommended for most historical fiction collections.-Ann Fleury, Tampa-Hillsborough P.L., FL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
