In the early 1800's, a young American nation seeks to gain its own political foothold in a war-ravaged Middle East in which Christians and Muslims, English, French, Turks and Arabs all contend for power. This setting of the novel Blood Brothers is America's first foray into nation-building in the Islamic world: the 1805 attempt to put a pro-American ruler on the throne of Tripoli. America's invasion of Tripoli brings together two unlikely allies: Peter Kirkpatrick, the young, brashly confident captain of the USS Eagle, and the half-brother he never knew he had, Henry Doyle. Doyle, twenty years older than Peter, was raised by the Mohawk Indians in the 1770's. When the Mohawk nation was destroyed in the Revolution, Henry left America to become, in time, a master spy in England's wars against the French. He leaves the British to become the war leader of the mysterious Tuareg nomads - "The Forgotten of God." Wholly to advance his own purposes, Henry agrees to serve the American-led army as their chief scout for the 500 mile march through the desert against Tripoli. Like the country he serves, Peter Kirkpatrick is driven by the need to demonstrate the power of America's ideals the only way he understands: victory over America's enemies. At sea, the victories come easily. He leads the crew of the USS Eagle in ship against ship battles in which American skill and courage are invincible. But when he joins America's invasion of Tripoli, he is plunged into an unfamiliar, unforgiving world that will test him and test America's character as a nation to the breaking point. For Doyle, the question becomes: do I help my brother-or let him die? The novel's sweep encompasses three mysterious, treacherous expanses: the Mediterranean sea, the equally vast Sahara, and the ancient, corrupt cities of Egypt - all capable of swallowing up dreams and lives.
About the Author: My wife JoAnn and I have been restoring our 1730's house for 25 years. What madness! I decided I needed a break from crumbly old plaster and hopelessly crooked walls and ceilings. Why not write the historical novel that has been simmering inside me since I was 10 years old, I thought? So I did. My passion for historical novels started with Kenneth Roberts' Lydia Bailey, and has evolved over the years into a joyful addiction. My love of sailing started about the same time. I have planned this book as the first in a series of novels that will unfold the lives of the two main characters and the women they love. Later novels will depict Henry Doyle's fight to save his adopted Iroquois nation and his early career as a spy, Peter's involvement in the War of 1812, and in the last novel, The Most Bold and Daring Act of the Age, the final successful suppression of the Barbary pirates in 1815, in which Peter rescues Henry from his Algerian captors. I have a M.A. in American Literature from the Bread Loaf School of English, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in Renaissance and 18th Century studies. My family includes daughters Mary Behr, Jennifer Behr Wilson and her husband Jordan Wilson, and two grandchildren, Maggie Grace Wilson and Finn Thomas Wilson.