THE HIGHWAYMAN’S FOOTSTEPS

The runaway son of a wealthy English gentleman and the orphan daughter of a notorious highwayman meet at gunpoint on a deserted moor one dark night in 1761 and form an unlikely alliance. Branded a coward by his father for refusing to enter the King’s army, 14-year-old William de Lacey flees his home after stealing his father’s purse. Will himself becomes the victim of a robber who turns out to be Bess, love child of a highwayman and an innkeeper’s daughter murdered by redcoats years ago. Bess is seriously injured, and Will makes the critical decision to help her even though she’s a felon. He soon realizes that feisty Bess operates by her own strict moral code, which includes hating all redcoats and helping the poor. Soon, Will questions his privileged upbringing while his courage and honor are tested repeatedly as he and Bess try to right the wrongs they encounter. With Alfred Noyes’s poem “The Highwayman” as background, Morgan spins an 18th-century tale of suspense and danger starring a sympathetic hero and heroine whose adventures keep the pages turning. (Historical fiction. 12-16)