Camp Follower

Sold at the age of 17 to a colonial merchant, Helen Chiswell soon finds herself widowed after her husband is killed in a duel. Since her husband’s death, Helen barely makes a living writing a society column for a Wilmington newspaper. When her publisher offers financial compensation to travel to the British Legion encampment to interview and write about Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton, Helen quickly agrees. Although the funds promised are much needed, Helen is excited at the chance to prove her worth as a journalist. Lt. Dunstan Fairfax, aware Helen’s lover is David St. James, a renowned rebel, is more than willing for Helen to pose as his sister while she travels with him into the backcountry of North Carolina. Helen embarks on a show more treacherous journey, unaware that her publisher has devious reasons for sending her into danger and that Fairfax is intent on proving her a spy while capturing St. James.

Adair takes her reader on an exciting adventure, filled with historical fact wrapped around an intriguing plot. Once more, Dunstan Fairfax does not disappoint as the bloodthirsty British officer who delights in torture and murder. Helen Chiswell makes for an interesting character, a woman dealing with demons from her past while trying to make the best of the situation she has been forced into. show less

This is the third in Suzanne Adair's series on the Revolutionary War series set in the Southern colonies. Each of the three has had a different heroine but the same villain. In this volume, the protagonist is Helen Chiswell. At seventeen this daughter of poverty and abuse in Wiltshire, England, is sold to a wealthy lout and goes with him to Wilmington, North Carolina.

The body of the work takes place in 1780. Helen has been a widow for several years, but her husband's debts have left her desperate for money. She earns some by writing for the society page of a local publication.

Helen's publisher offers her a big payment to write a lengthy feature on Banastre Tarleton, one of the more exciting British officers. To get close to him she show more poses as the sister of Lt. Dunstan Fairfax, whom readers know as the villain of the last two books by Adair. Before she leaves Wilmington, her old butler is murdered, and Helen is suspected. Fairfax saves her to satisfy his own needs. They begin their journey, along with a couple who serves as Helen's servants, and her dearest friend since she came to America, Jonathan Quill, who also acts as her servant in order to protect her. They leave on their lengthy journey and encounter plots, counter-plots, and more plots. Helen is tested to figure out who she can trust, and must learn how to open her heart enough to love.

Like the other two books in the series, this book is a rip-snorting good adventure with a strong woman protagonist. In addition, it is valuable picture of what the Revolution was like in the Southern colonies. Recommended, as is the author's blog (http://www.suzanneadair.typepad.com/). show less