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THE REBEL AND THE TURNCOAT by Malcolm Decker Kirkus Star

THE REBEL AND THE TURNCOAT

By

Pub Date: March 30th, 1949
Publisher: Whittlessy House

A mature, well-written story of the American Revolution with an apealing and likable hero, 17-year old Henry Prince. The facet of the story that recommends it particularly is the commendable fairness with which both the tory side and the Rebel side are Presented. Henry, too, is refreshingly normal, an ordinary boy caught up in events he cannot at first grasp, torn between his english background and training and families loyalties, and the deep love for the land which gave him birth, and which demands his allegiance. As civillian, as soldier, for five years of struggle, the boys tries to comprise -- but with the end of the war he realizes how fully he is an American, not an Englishmen. Campaigns chiefly in long Island- Manhattan- and hudson Valley area; serving as a spy, first for the british, later deserting to the Americans; in contact with the Hale, Arnold, Andre, Pulaski, Hamilton, Washington; there's more to Henry's story than one usually expects in the run of the mill historical adventure stories. For girls-there is Jane Varian, rebel spy- and a romance that weaves a tenuous thread through the tale. Better written, too, than most of its ilk.