Preston Martin entered the world one humid August afternoon in 1853. Listening to his lusty cries, the midwife told his mother Freelove he would grow up to be a preacher. His father Joseph took a more pessimistic view. Noticing the corner of his son's mouth slanted to one side, Joseph concluded Preston had a liar's mouth.
Preston lives his life somewhere between his parents' two pronouncements. He has every intention and desire to follow his mother's wishes, but life in nineteenth-century America keeps drawing him astray.
When war brings tragedy to Preston's family, Preston finds himself supporting his mother through a combination of lay preaching and opportunistic theft. A recommendation that he join the army turns sour when Preston chooses to desert, leaving him a hunted man for almost a decade.
Based on the life story of author K. A. Potter-Hughes' paternal great-grandfather, Deserter paints an evocative and sometimes grim picture of love, loss, and morality in the years surrounding the Civil War. Preston's acts may not be those of a godly man, but he never stops struggling to become one. In the long run, perhaps that's enough for redemption.
About the Author: A retired English teacher, K. A. Potter-Hughes taught high school for twenty-seven years, as well as teaching as an adjunct English Instructor in three different colleges.
As a child growing up in Rome, New York, Potter-Hughes inherited a love of writing and reading from her mother. Deserter, her first novel, was inspired by research into her own family history and a newspaper article dated July 1891 in which her paternal great-grandfather recounted his adventures as an army deserter.
Potter-Hughes received a master's of education degree with an emphasis in English from Lincoln Memorial University, in Harrogate, Tennessee. She holds a Rank I degree (thirty hours' study beyond a master's) from Union College, in Barbourville, Kentucky.
Potter-Hughes currently resides in Middlesboro, Kentucky, with the love of her life, Roger. Both she and Roger are ordained elders of the First Presbyterian Church.
