The Firekeeper: A Narrative of the Eastern Frontier

A historical epic of love and adventure in the New World of colonial America features the real-life Sir William Johnson, King George's governor over the Mohawks, and the two very different women in his life.

In Moss's vibrant docu-novel, the American colonial frontier is aflame during the 1700s as imperial rivalry pits colonists against British and French armies and their Indian allies. This follow-up to Fire Along the Sky tells the fictionalized story of the real-life Sir William Johnson, an Irish immigrant who settled in New York's Mohawk Valley to earn his fortune and became the only white chief (the "Firekeeper") of the Iroquois of the Six Nations. In Moss's politically correct account, "Billy" is depicted as a high-spirited rake, a shrewd but honest businessman and the only white man the Indians trust. Seeing the treacherous efforts of both French and British efforts to steal Indian lands, Johnson fights colonial corruption and duplicity to defend the Six Nations from the white man's menace. When the French and Indian War erupts in 1756 and the valleys of the frontier burn and bleed from raids and ambushes, his leadership and influence keep the Six Nations firmly on the British side; eventually, the Indians join his militia in the assault against the French fort at Crown Point during the Battle of Lake George. Surrounding Johnson are such colorful historical figures as Ben Franklin, George Washington and the hapless General Braddock, all carefully woven into the narrative. Moss, who is perhaps best known for his suspense novels (Moscow Rules, etc.), backs his vigorous adventure story with detailed research, summarized in extensive source notes. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

With this novel set in Colonial America, Moss, author of several best-selling Cold War thrillers (e.g., Carnival of Spies, LJ 5/15/87), performs the literary equivalent of beating swords into plowshares.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Moss recounts the escalation of the French and Indian Wars through the frontier adventures of a Native American island woman and two immigrants, Billy Johnson, the Irish nephew of Peter Warren, claimant of considerable land along the Hudson River, which belonged originally to the Mohawk Indians, and Catherine "Cat" Wissenberg from Germany. Johnson, eventually designated sole superintendent of Indians by the king of England is also confirmed as Firekeeper of the Six Nations by the Indians themselves. Moss tells Johnson's story via his adventures in Ireland and America and his connections with the powerful Mohawk island woman and Cat Wissenberg. Cat flees an abusive father in Germany, meets Johnson in Dublin, and travels to America as a free woman only to be sold as an indentured servant by a shifty captain. Escaping servitude, she is later captured by Mission Indians and eventually reunited with Billy Johnson. By alternating the Indian and settler viewpoints of his story, Moss renders an expansive and involving perspective on the eastern frontier. Denise Perry Donavin