HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Chains and Forge are considered highlights of an author career packed with highlights, and this final installment comes with a book tour, floor displays, and more. Anderson demonstrates a particular talent for verisimilitude, bringing history to compelling life while she continues to develop her theme of the quest for liberty and the cruel irony that, during a war for freedom, there should remain slavery. But to what end? The plot-rich text makes for compelling reading and the well-developed characters continue to invite reader empathy. The action then moves to the siege of Yorktown even as Isabel and Curzon’s often stormy relationship continues to evolve. Will they reach their destination? Perhaps, but in the meantime they arrive in Williamsburg, Virginia, where, to Isabel’s great distress, Curzon re-enlists in the Continental Army. To Isabel’s great joy, find her they do but, inexplicably, Ruth refuses to return Isabel’s affection, remaining cold and distant even when the three, along with farm boy Eben, set off to walk to Rhode Island and freedom. The year is now 1781 and two teenage fugitives are 12 miles from Charleston, South Carolina, in search of Isabel’s younger sister Ruth, stolen away from her many years before. Co-protagonists Isabel and Curzon ( Chains, 2008, and Forge, 2010) return in this long-awaited third and final volume in Anderson’s award-winning Seeds of America trilogy.

The seeds of america trilogy