Robert Sutherland (The Secret of Devil Lake) offers a gripping novel set during the War of 1812. Fifteen-year-old Canadian Jamie Shaw lives on a farm at Prescott, just across the St. Lawrence River from Ogdensburg, home of his best friends, Jared and Leah Jackson, and their father, an American war-hawk lawyer. When war’s declared, Jackson bars Jamie from seeing his children. The three young people become increasingly confused as the war pits them against each other for ill-defined causes. Leah has most at stake, loving both her brother Jared, a drummer for the Americans, and Jamie, a militia man for the Canadians. She wrestles to save them from death and from facing each other across a battlefield.

Leah’s surprisingly heroic role never tempts Sutherland to slip into proto-feminist anachronisms. In fact, the author’s greatest strengths are his deft creation of a credible historical world and his compelling plot. Jamie’s escape from American soldiers on a boat bound for a Plattsburg war prison is exciting and punctuated with gentle humour. Sutherland’s young characters, however, are underrealized. All three are loyal, decent, and brave, and while Sutherland allows them inner conflicts about their part in the war, they invariably arrive at the right conclusions, without much agonizing. They are distinguishable mainly by age and sex. Like his characters, Sutherland’s style, while consistently lucid and competent, lacks flair. The novel’s most engaging character, Jackson, stands aloof from the citizens of Prescott and Ogdensburg, who would rather get along with each other than fight a European war. Avoiding the easy route, Sutherland never villainizes Jackson but gives him a strong voice and the odd persuasive argument. Moreover, Jackson’s final response to Leah and Jamie’s budding romance will startle many readers.