Ghost Fire A Novel Based on True Events

One life ends and another begins for sixteen year old farm boy, John, when he is taken captive during the 1694 Indian attack on Groton, Massachusetts. Taken north to New France, he faces hardships and discovers things about himself and his captors that he would never have imagined. Along with his Indian captors he must fight to survive cruel winters in the northern wilderness, hunger, smallpox epidemics and ongoing hostilities with the English colonists. But it is the love and respect he unexpectedly finds that shapes him the most and that leaves him unsure of his identity and loyalties. Part adventure story set in colonial America, part coming of age story told with humor and compassion for all the characters, Ghost Fire is based on true events and real people from a part of history that is often overlooked.The book’s title comes from the term the Penobscot Indians used for the bio-luminescence that might be seen at night hovering in the forest or over a marsh. The eerie light was attributed to spirits of persons who had not received a proper burial. Europeans used the term will o’wisp for the same phenomenon. In the novel it represents the violent past that haunts both the character and our country.