Customer Reviews

Camp Follower: A Mystery of the American Revolution

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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 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.

Camp Follower, set in the time of the Revolutionary war, is the story of a flawed woman who starts life impoverished and abused. As a result of events she has no control over; she becomes a wealthy merchant's wife-and within three years, an impoverished widow. After many years of struggling she is offered the opportunity to regain some semblance of financial security. But to gain it she must embark on a dangerous assignment, the likes of which no woman of her time has ever taken on. She must follow one of the most ferocious military regiment of the Revolution.

As she travels with the regiment she not only has to adapt to the harsh life of civilians traveling with the military, but also has to navigate the murky waters of treachery, spies, and military politics. Intertwined is the mystery surrounding several murders that occurred right before she embarked on her assignment, and the mysterious last words of one of the victims: "You realize they will kill Madame if they find it." She must determine if her life is in danger, and if so who is friend and who is foe. She must separate fact from selfish manipulations. Circumstances force her to face a past she'd rather forget and discover who she really is after so many years of pretending.

Camp Follower is an excellent novel; I highly recommend it to anyone. Author Adair weaves a superb tale, which held me enthralled from the first page. The culture of the Revolution is brought to life, and the tension caused by the mistrust of the loyalist, rebels, and neutrals of each other and themselves is palpable.

The most alluring aspect of the book is the inner struggle we watch the heroine go through. She is faced with painful childhood memories and people from long ago who shaped her in ways she never imagined. The real story isn't so much the things that happen, but the way she rises to the occasion time after time in strength and courage.

Suzan Adair is a talented author and I can't wait to read more of her work. Armchair Interviews says: Adair wrote another superb story.

Sigh...the saga seems over at this point (but hopefully not!). Like with the two previous books (Paper Woman and The Blacksmith's Daughter) I carried the book everywhere and any spare moment I was reading...or I was reading up into the wee hours of morning.

Camp Follower took me on a journey to see and experience the life of the folks who followed the troops during this time in our history. I found myself able to imagine quite vividly the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the day to day life the characters experience as they progress through this story. The characters were all very noteworthy and memorable, as usual. Once again I `see' familiar folks from the previous books and the web weaves larger, catching more up into it...including me.

This chapter of the story catches you up in the twisted vines of a continued plague of spies, then add in treacherous individuals from the past and present and of course let us not forget the dog eat dog world of military affairs! My `old friend' was back again....Lt. Fairfax....his repertoire knows no bounds! Scary to say that he almost became endearing to me....but not quite.

Three HUZZAHS for you, Ms. Adair! Long live your imagination--and your characters! Please write for us again!!!!

Deborah Rosenkrans, aka Cody Lee of C.C.Colee

Plot/Storyline: 4 ½ Stars

This is a great storyline with lots of twists and turns in the plot to keep you on the edge of your seat. I really liked the way the author developed the story by feeding the reader pieces of the plot an inch at a time. This type of plot allows you to be interested and to wonder what on earth is going to happen next. Ms. Adair gives you just enough hints to engage your mind in the mystery of Helen's life. You are always wondering who is trustworthy, who is a scoundrel and who is worthy of love and admiration.

The violence is kept to an acceptable minimum, and Helen's love interests are handled with a sense of refinement. The book is written as a true cliff-hanger, but there are just a few too many convenient coincidences. These unfortunate occurrences are the difference between a great and an excellent mystery. They can be, however, what the reader cheers for. Therefore, I can't really complain too much.

Character Development: 5 Stars

Helen, the woman about whom the book is written, rises from an English peasant woman to a genteel lady through an arranged and slavish marriage. She fears to face her humble beginnings and remember the character of the woman she once was. Through her struggles to confront the past, we see her character in all its strengths and weaknesses. We see the love she has for the people who have helped her gain and maintain her status, and we see the devotion, love and loyalty she elicits from them in return.

Lieutenant Dunstan Fairfax is the counterpoint and protagonist against whom Helen must fight. He loves no one and no one loves him. His beginnings are almost as humble as Helen's and Ms. Adair uses his character to draw a malevolent contrast to Nell's (Helen's) story. His cruel appearance and haughty demeanor is used to define him. With a detailed look at his behavior, the author gives you clues to his frightening psychological profile. You see this man through Helen's eyes, and what you see is very disturbing.

There is a knight in not-so shiny armor, three loyal and devoted companions/servants, a completely self-absorbed Earl in charge of the Loyalist Army and many other minor characters in this novel. Two spies and one publisher have links to Helen's dead husband and are shown for the greedy individuals they truly are. Ms. Adair also featured, in its truest sense, "a camp follower" who is only there for the pleasure of the Red Coat's commander, Colonel Banastre Tarleton. The other people who make up an army's traveling retinue are given short character sketches which make them come alive to the reader and give you an understanding of the type of people involved in the exacting struggles of the Revolutionary War.

Writing Style: 5 Stars

Ms. Adair is adept with words. Her style is smooth and the words roll off the page with ease and efficiency. She has a good command of the English language and it shows. Her words are exact and precise in descriptions and dialogue. The author ably gives the reader the ambience of every scene and thorough, colorful descriptions of the settings for the novel. She knows how to concisely convey her message. There is fluidity to the story. She doesn't sacrifice the mystery for the majesty of the written word. It was an extremely easy read, and I enjoyed it very much. I'm hoping she will write more of Helen's story.

Editing: 4 Stars

This is the point at which the book takes a decline in quality. There were several little errors that kept cropping up in the text. Letters or words were left out or added in a few places. Example: "Why was it was so damned cold in her cot?" It was also annoying to me that the author continually referred to Earl Cornwallis as "the" Earl Cornwallis. As any Englishman will tell you, you don't use `the' before Earl. Another example for consideration was the use of the wrong word in a sentence. Example: "No editor named Samuel Kerr had organizing the assignment."

This third novel by Suzanne Adair really showcases her ability to "make you feel there" with her portrayal of camp life and military life from the other side, the Loyalists. It is also enjoyable because Ms. Adair weaves incharacters from her first two novels, and how they influence , affect, and endanger the heroine, Helen Chiswell, a journalist on a very early "embedded" mission with The British Legion leading up to the Battle of Cowpens and its aftermath.My favorite in the series.

BOOK WAS DELIVERED IN VERY SHORT TIME. BOOK WAS IN UNUSUALLY GOOD SHAPE FOR IT TO BE USED. I AM ENJOYING READING IT

When impoverished widow Helen Chiswell is given the opportunity to travel with Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton and the British Legion in 1780 she sees it as a chance to improve her finances and write about something more exciting than social events.

But her publisher has more devious plans, which only become apparent the deeper she travels into the path of danger. Her travel escort, posing as her brother, is the brutal Lt. Dunstan Fairfax, who has plans of his own. Fairfax is using her as bait to ensnare her sometime lover, David St. James, and other members of his rebel family.

Before long, Helen also becomes aware of spies in their midst, the plight of families torn asunder by the war and the truth about her feelings toward her longtime friend and tutor, Jonathan Quill.

Told from the viewpoint of Loyalists, the novel gives a fresh and accurate portrait of life during the period and explodes various myths, most importantly, emphasizing the positive role of women both in daily life and in the war.

Suzanne Adair has crafted a novel brimming with suspense, intriguing characters and enough action and romance to satisfy the most discerning readers. This is the third of Adair's Revolutionary War series set in the South. It isn't necessary to have read the previous novels to enjoy this one, but one would seem to recommend the others.

Title Camp Follower
Author
Suzanne Adair
Rating ****
Tags revolutionary war, south, women

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 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. [...]