Fire Along the Sky (70 page)

Lily was still enough of a newlywed to blush, but she lifted her chin and looked her brother directly in the eye. “That's part of it, aye. I hope one day you'll do as well for yourself when you go looking for a bride.”

Daniel's jaw clenched so hard that the muscles there rolled and twitched. His eyes were tear bright and hard, and in them Nathaniel saw that the boy had given up on any kind of normal future for himself.

Across the table he met Elizabeth's eye.

You see?
Her expression spoke to him clearly.
You see now how it is with him?

He was starting to see it, yes. Nathaniel looked at his middle son, and understood that he had come home from one war to fight another.

Author's Note

One of the things I like best about this kind of storytelling is the opportunity to lure unsuspecting readers into historical waters, most especially when the times and places in question are little known. American history, as it is taught in the schools today, pays scant attention to the War of 1812. Most students are shepherded from the Revolution directly to the Civil War, and more's the pity, to have such important and exciting stories fade away into nothingness.

All that is an introduction to a confession: in pursuit of a good story, I have fiddled with the facts. The war, as it happened in the summer of 1813 in French Canada and New York State, looked a lot like the story you'll read here, but not exactly like it. As the narrative required, I nudged dates (but just a little); I took the two major events of the summer of 1813 in the region in question and played havoc. Among other things I changed the names of the ships, regiments, and persons involved. Sometimes I created battalions out of whole cloth. I did this to free myself from the need to be fair to individuals and the historical record. So, there's no need to contact me to tell me what I got wrong; I know (for example) that the King's Rangers never existed in this time and place, because they are my invention.

Occasionally you will find real historical personages popping in and out of the story. Who is real and who isn't is a question I'm not going to answer here. If I've done my job well and you're curious enough, you will pursue that question on your own. There are a multitude of excellent military historians who have written about the period.

As ever, I am thankful to the many people who answered my innumerable questions on matters from gunpowder to the rigging of sails. I am especially thankful to Wendy McCurdy, Nita Taublib, and Irwyn Applebaum at Bantam; to my friend and agent Jill Grinberg; to my always and forevers, Bill and Beth.

Also by Sara Donati

I
NTO THE
W
ILDERNESS

D
AWN ON A
D
ISTANT
S
HORE

L
AKE IN THE
C
LOUDS

FIRE ALONG THE SKY
A Bantam Book / September 2004

Published by Bantam Dell
a division of
Random House, Inc.
New York, New York

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2004 by Sara Donati

Endpaper maps by Laura Hartman Maestro

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Bantam Books
^®
is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

Visit our wehsite at
www.bantamdell.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Donati, Sara, 1956–
Fire along the sky / Sara Donati.
p.         cm.
1. United States—History—War of 1812—Fiction.         2. Scottish Americans—Fiction.         3. Women immigrants—Fiction.         I. Title.

PS3554.O46923F57 2004
813'.54—dc22
2004045095

Published simultaneously in Canada

eISBN: 978-0-553-90064-4

v3.0