Fields of Gold

Fields of Gold is a fast paced historical novel taking place during the time of the Civil War (1861-1865) in the United States between the North and the South. The story keeps the reader fully intrigued from beginning to end with its twists and turns regarding the intricate covert actions of a man who was born of the British aristocracy, but surrendered his title to live as a cultured gentleman and planter in the South. At the start of the war between the States, he pledges his honor to fight for the Yankees, but his superiors soon capitalized on the ease with which he is capable of maneuvering between the two warring factions. Talented in guerilla warfare, a unique assignment brings him an unusual responsibility, an assignment that often places him in even greater danger, but one that changes his entire life. Not only does it seriously alter his future, but it takes him back to the land of his birth, forcing him to locate and contest a dangerous killer, who has kidnaped and threatened to murder the woman he loves and his unborn son.

The prologue begins during a siege in a small kingdom off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea where a young monarch is losing a battle. Taking his last stand in the castle, he discovers his beloved queen dead after bearing his twin daughters. He quickly orders his two most trusted men to travel to the United States with each royal child to save their lives and to deliver them to separate locations that are to be kept secret, one from the other.

The story continues years later as the United States Civil War is in full swing. Garrett, arrives from a bloody encounter in the depths of a swamp where he realizes his losses were not only from one enemy but two; Confederate snipers and swamp fever. Overlooking the fact that he has been ordered to head back to the main force of Sherman's army, his immediate superior consigns him to handle a personal matter; the delivery of a young orphan to an aunt and uncle in Charleston.

Grudgingly, he takes on what turns out to be more than a handful a highly difficult and rebellious child. A child who feels no compunction about turning him over to the enemy, for it also was a journey in which Garrett was honor bound to gather military information for the North, while at the same time being ordered to slow down the Rebels with counter attacks on their strongholds and subterfuge on their supply lines, utilizing whatever means were close at hand. The journey turns into a series of narrow escapes, discovery of a unique band of warriors, a new trusted alliance formed during a bloody battle, yet all ends for Garrett in an unusual and confounding surprise As with most honorable soldiering, especially during a civil confrontation, Garrett is forced to leave his own home unprotected, returning only briefly to quickly leave it again.

In this unwilling act of abandonment, a predator of the war the kind who knows no allegiance to either the North or the South takes the opportunity to activate his personal motives against Garrett by hiding behind the guise of a marauder. This loosens an evil that sweeps the story into a breathless hair-raising chase frustrated by honor to duty, protecting the president of the United States, and an illusive love bound in a web of an unending mystery.