• Age: 10 to 14
• Grade: 6 to 8

“A satisfying read.”—Kirkus Reviews

Cousins Walt and Nate McGregor, and Sunday, the former slave on Nate’s father’s plantation, have survived the carnage of the Battle of Shiloh. But the American Civil War rages on, and the three young men find themselves reunited at the notorious Libby prison in Virginia. Within its walls, Nate is a guard, Sunday is a slave, and Walt is a prisoner. Their grim reunion highlights the complexity of a war that has torn a nation apart. Can these three battle-scarred soldiers hope for anything more than survival? Find out in this gripping sequel to John Wilson’s critically acclaimed novel The Flags of War.

John Wilson was born in 1951 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He did his early growing up on the Island of Skye and in Paisley, near Glasgow. From 1969 to 1974, he attended the University of St. Andrews where he took an Honours B.Sc.. in Geology and never played golf once. He took a position with the Geological Survey of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). In his two years there, he mapped rocks, dodged land mines and watched the country sink ever deeper into civil war. Shortly before he was due to be called into the army, John retreated back to Britain on his way to the safety of Canada. He settled on Calgary where geology was booming and the only danger was freezing to death in January. In 1979, he moved to Edmonton to take up a post with the Alberta Geological Survey. In 1988 he sold a feature article to the Globe and Mail. This fueled a smouldering mid-life crisis and he took up freelance writing full-time. With some success, John mined the experiences of his travels for articles, journalism and photo essays. He even began to express himself poetically and, with a young family, began writing children's stories. He moved to Nanaimo and then Lantzville on Vancouver Island. John has been widely published by a number of Canadian presses, with his acolades including a shortlisting for the Governor General’s Award.

John Wilson's profile page

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