The nineteen-teens was a
tumultuous era in American history. The
pace of social change was dizzying: the rising
tide of worker unrest, the battle for women's
suffrage, the scourge of discrimination against
minorities. New technologies - electricity, the
telephone, the automobile - were transforming
life. Meanwhile the war raging in Europe was
drawing America inexorably into its vortex.
Author Robert T. McMaster
transports his readers back in time to early
20th century America in a new series of
historical novels. Set in a bustling New England
industrial city, these books follow the lives of
teenagers Jack Bernard and Tom Wellington
through good times and bad, hope and despair,
love and loss. Adventure, mystery, and romance
abound in these absorbing stories populated with
characters so real and life-like they seem to
leap from the pages and materialize before our
very eyes.
Readers young and old will be captivated by the
world of their grandparents and
great-grandparents, an era seemingly remote that
nonetheless speaks to us across the generations.
Trolley Days, The Dyeing Room, and
Noah's Raven are currently available in
paperback and eBook
editions.
For
information on Robert T. McMaster's
newest book, please click on the image:
Trolley Days
is the story of an unlikely friendship between two
boys growing up in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in its
industrial heyday. Jack Bernard is the son of a mill
worker who emigrated from Canada, Tom Wellington the
son of the mill owner. Jack is shy and socially a bit
awkward, Tom self-assured and smooth-talking. But for
all their differences, the two boys have much in
common. They love fishing, sports, and all manner of
youthful tomfoolery. Each has suffered the loss of a
sibling, tragedies that have affected both families
deeply.
In the opening chapter a blizzard is
approaching as Jack boards a train for the long
trip to Boston. He has received a cryptic letter
informing him that Tom is in a Boston jail.
Despite a recent falling-out between the two, Jack
still considers Tom his best friend, and he
refuses to allow a snowstorm to prevent him from
going to Tom's aid. Soon Jack will be plunged into
a mystery that calls on all his courage and
determination to solve, even as Tom's freedom,
perhaps his very life, hangs in the balance. To
save his friend, Jack will need the assistance of
Tom's sister, Anne, but that will require Jack and
Anne to reconcile their fractured relationship.
Does friendship have its limits? Can
bonds of trust, once broken, be repaired? Can we
learn from life's tragedies and move on, or must
we carry them like lead weights on our hearts
forever? In Trolley
Days, it seems it is the young who bear
the heaviest of life's burdens and must marshal
the strength to free themselves and their parents.
Trolley Days
by Robert T. McMaster
Unquomonk
Press - ISBN 9780985694401
Available in paperback and eBook
Spring
- 1917. War is raging in Europe and America has just
cast its lot against the German war machine. Back
home, the nation is reeling with social strife:
workers marching for their rights, immigrants
demanding fair treatment, suffragettes clamoring for
the vote.
In Holyoke, Massachusetts,
17-year-old Jack Bernard has begun a new job at one
of the city's largest textile mills, hoping to save
money for college. Meanwhile, his friend, Tom
Wellington, appears to have taken control of his
demons and set himself on a new course. Soon
the lives of both young men, their families and
friends, will be torn asunder by forces and events
far beyond their control.
The Dyeing Room, Book 2 of
the Trolley Days Series, is an absorbing blend of
adventure, mystery, and romance. Readers young and
old will be captivated by this story from a century
past, the world of our forebears, an era that,
however distant, still speaks to us across the
generations.
The Dyeing Room
by Robert T. McMaster
Unquomonk Press -
ISBN 9780985694432
Available in paperback and eBook
September, 1917. America has entered the Great War,
the War to End All Wars. While young Americans by
the hundreds of thousands are marching into battle
in Europe, back home the nation’s social fabric is
being torn asunder by patriotic fervor and
xenophobia.
Anne Wellington, Jack Bernard, and his sister Claire
befriend a scientist excavating fossil dinosaur
tracks along the banks of the Connecticut River.
Soon dark secrets will be revealed, some buried in
ancient rock, some hidden deep in the heart of their
mysterious new acquaintance.
When two
German-American classmates are taunted in the
schoolyard, 14-year-old Claire Bernard rushes to
their defense. While her intentions are good,
she is soon plunged into a dark world of
international conspiracy where prejudice and
suspicion blur distinctions between friend and
foe, good and evil, a world where she could well
be the next victim.
Noah’s Raven, Book 3 of the Trolley Days
Series, a riveting story of intrigue set in a
tumultuous period in our nation's past.
Noah's Raven
by Robert T. McMaster
Unquomonk Press -
ISBN 9780985694463
Available in
paperback and eBook