An unresolved family tragedy is the subject of this historical novel by the victim’s great-grandson, Robert James, a retired Ontario teacher. In 1832, a well-respected New Brunswick farmer, William Fawcett, was shot through the window of his home as he sat reading the family Bible. His son was charged but acquitted by jury. James traces Fawcett’s violent death to a family schism caused by jealousy between Fawcett’s son, Rufus, and James George, an orphan farmhand taken in by the family.

While the author’s framework is factual, he uses techniques of fiction, conjecturing conversations and crises far back into the sad early life of James George. The boy becomes Fawcett’s chief support on the farm, and when he marries Elizabeth Fawcett, her feckless brother Rufus is outraged. Spurred by the threat to his inheritance, Rufus disastrously takes matters into his own hands. The author develops James George (his grandfather, presumably) as a sympathetic character and recreates the Fawcett family dynamics in the context of the New Brunswick farming community. The trial scene is especially successful as a reflection of social history. Author James’s teaching background is evident in the loving attention he gives to 19th-century life, from whistle-making to ox training, peddlers, and shivarees. What the manuscript lacks in polish it makes up in enthusiasm (occasionally spilling over into purple prose). The reader is left wondering about the story behind the story – what sparked Robert James to look into this event, and where did he find answers to his questions? Considering the current interest in genealogical and regional history, an appendix on research and sources would have been welcome.