The year is 1765, at the beginning of the Stamp Tax dissent, the first organized resistance to English rule.
Duncan McCallum is drawn into the mystery of a series of murders and kidnappings that are strangely connected to the theft of an Iroquois artifact. In following the trail, he uncovers a network of secret runners supporting the nascent “committees of correspondence,” engaged in the first organized political dissent across colonial borders.
When he is captured and thrown into slavery with the kidnapped runners, Duncan encounters a powerful conspiracy of highly placed English aristocrats who are bent on crushing all dissent. Inspired by new friends, Duncan decides not just to escape but to turn their own intrigue against the London lords.
The fourth instalment of the Bone Rattler series moves ever closer to the beginning of the American Revolution. Blood of the Oak takes a fresh view on the birth of the new nation, suggesting that the “freedom” that became the centerpiece of the Revolution was uniquely American, rising not just from political discourse but also from the extraordinary bond with the natural world experienced by frontier settlers and native tribes.
Praise for Blood of the Oak…
“The fourth in Pattison’s Bone Rattler series combines well-drawn fictional and historical personages in a vivid portrayal of a pivotal year in American history. Historical mystery at its best.” — Booklist (Starred Review)
“The fourth instalment in Pattison’s Bone Rattler series is another complexly plotted historical mystery written in a baroque style highly suggestive of the period and unblinking in its portrayal of American history’s dark lessons.” — Kirkus