An Enemy Among Them
Deborah H. DeFord. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), $13.95 (203pp) ISBN 978-0-395-44239-5
""Sometimes people have to die,'' Margaret's brother tells her, ``so that the rest can live.'' A young German-American, Margaret supports the rebel cause in the American Revolutionary War but hates to see her brothers leave home. Eventually she falls in love with a prisoner quartered with her family, Christian, a German soldier hired by the British. While re-creating the battles at Trenton, Chadd's Ford and Stony Point from Christian's viewpoint (and reflecting on his loyalties), the authors show the effects of the war on Margaret's close-knit family. This is an absorbing historical romance, but though the characters and their times have color and life, the story is occasionally marred by inflated writing (her ``lament resonated through the anguished days'') and too-neat coincidences. Ages 10-14. (October)
Details
Reviewed on: 09/30/1987
Genre: Children's
Paperback - 208 pages - 978-0-395-70108-9
Prebound-Glued - 208 pages - 978-0-7857-3717-9
Prebound-Sewn - 203 pages - 978-0-606-07190-1