Tommy Speller woke up eighty-two years before he was born and he was in trouble, the kind of trouble where surviving was only a hope. Nine-year old Tommy traveled to a parallel universe where he fell in with some very unusual young people. Something had gone terribly wrong. It was supposed to be a glorious affair. Then, these adventure seeking young people found themselves in a very bad place. This remarkable story is a gripping and emotional tale of suffering and triumph portraying young people pushed into horrific circumstances by the human forces of anger and hatred. Based on real events, it takes place on a battlefield but it's not about war. It's about a personal secret from this journey that Tommy kept sealed in his mind until he was an old man, a secret one-hundred-forty-nine years old. It's also about Tommy's new young friends from this journey who were lured into a world they did not understand and how it changed them. Teenagers and children in mortal danger but obsessed with girls, baseball and getting home to mother. They were simple, funny, compassionate and scared. They didn't think much about dying...until today. Tommy Speller is a modern-day nine-year-old boy who is an unwilling time traveler. He has a freakish tendency to fall back in time and experience historical events with the ghosts from those events. In this story, Tommy's parents ruin his summer plans. Consumed by selfish anger, Tommy is about to see what genuine anger really looks like. After a bizarre trip to Gettysburg with his parents for a family obligation, he finds himself on the battlefield the afternoon of July 2, 1863. Hurled back in time and into the conflict, he makes curious new friends, becomes entangled in the fight and searches for his great-great-grandfather named Thomas Speller who was a hero of that battle. Two teenagers and two ten-year-old drummers, one from a Union Regiment and one a Confederate prisoner, join Tommy this adventure filled with terrifying moments, tender moments and thrilling surprises. Thousands of teenagers and even children participated in the most significant event in American history. In many ways, they were just like today's young people seeking adventure. Few of them knew what they were getting into. Even fewer knew how to deal with the unimaginable horror. None of them knew they would die. The plight of a small band of these unsuspecting warriors is followed in this novel. It's their personal stories about relationships, values, private conflicts and fears that influenced how they dealt with the brutal reality of the Civil War's biggest battle outside a little town in Pennsylvania called Gettysburg. A century and a half ago, these gritty boys served with honor and courage. As actual historic events unfold, these fictional characters will reveal who survives, who makes an extraordinary discovery and who shocks an army in a stand-up-and-cheer ending. Can Tommy Speller change history? Maybe, maybe not, but this adventure will certainly change his attitude about anger.
About the Author: Thomas Apostle was a history major many years ago and has kept alive his passion for American history. He believes we should know how we got here, who got us here and at what personal sacrifice. Thomas grew up in North Dakota and Minnesota, was stricken with polio at age seven and ten years later earned All-American honors in two sports. He's probably in the gym today or in the driveway shooting buckets with grandkids. Thomas never read fiction, only non-fiction history until he began writing family history stories for his children. That project led to TOMMY and the Lake Jewel Murders from his own childhood experiences. He's married and lives in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Jeannette, who is a voracious reader of fiction, non-fiction or anything in print.