A Circle of Silver

Brenda Baltensperger is a playwright, a director of children’s
theatre, an editor of children’s fiction, and the author of Fractured
Fairy-tales.

The year is 1760, and Lord MacNeil is taking his son John with him on
his next voyage to Canada. A skilled artist, John is to act as
cartographer. The evening before his departure, John’s 13-year-old
twin sister gives him her most-prized possession, a silver ring.

John finds Canada’s wilderness and people fascinating. During one of
his sojourns, an unexpected storm sweeps him off a boat and into the
Detroit River. After struggling ashore, he meets Marie Roy and her
younger brother and has an encounter with the great Chief Pontiac. It is
against the backdrop of the impending danger of Pontiac’s rebellion
against British rule that the reader experiences John’s growing
maturity.

Maxine Trottier has woven fiction and history skilfully together (two
characters are based on her own ancestors) in a fast-paced adventure
that entertains as well as educates. Circle of Silver is the first
volume in a trilogy. Highly recommended.