Kings Mountain
The year is 1779. Colonial South Carolina is in the grip of the American Revolution when two men—fellow escapees from a penal colony in Barbados, years earlier—find themselves drawn into the conflict on opposite sides. One of the men, Michael Redferne, having first returned to his native Ireland after the daring escape, now longs for some excitement as he searches for his illegitimate daughter, rumored to be in the colonies.
The other escapee, Isaac Malot, is a Black man from Sierra Leone who remained in the Caribbean to become the captain of a pirate sloop. The novel opens when he and his crew are shipwrecked on the Carolina shore where suspected runaway slaves are hunted and punished, putting him in constant danger. Unbeknownst to each other, Redferne and Malot are on a collision course where their friendship will be put to the ultimate test during the battle at Kings Mountain.
Author Seamus Beirne delivers a fast-paced drama that deftly follows the adventures of the two protagonists in alternating chapters right up until their fates are entwined in the concluding pages of the book. Too often, this plot-driven story relies on unlikely coincidences, avoidable mishaps, and one-dimensional characters to move the action forward. That said, the narrative touches on some of the complexities of war, when men must pick sides—whether out of a sense of justice, revenge, a desire for excitement or self-interest. The historic conflict that takes place on Kings Mountain between colonial patriots and British loyalists is described in less than twenty pages, although there are loads of action leading up to the military engagement. Readers who are interested in an adventure tale packed with narrow escapes and near disasters will enjoy this novel.
