The Wessex Turncoat ~ Paperback ~ Michael E Wills

Aaron Mew is a seventeen year-old apprentice blacksmith living in a small Hampshire village, in the late eighteenth century. His life is simple yet secure, until the day when he volunteers to take the place of his father on an errand for the squire. The country boy is wrenched from the environment in which he grew up and thrust into a world of ruffians, drunks, criminals and disgraced professionals - the army of George III. An army desperately short of men, but with the huge ambition to quell the rebellion in America and to retain the country under British rule. After relentless training, Aaron's regiment, the 62nd Regiment of Foot, is posted to Canada. There, fighting side by side with Indian braves and German allies, the boy soldier becomes a hardened warrior. 'The Wessex Turncoat' tells the story, based on fact, of a doomed army and a regiment which is decimated, mainly because of the vanity and intransigence of an English general.Author BiographyMichael Wills was born on the Isle of Wight and educated at the Priory Boys School and Carisbrooke Grammar. He trained as a teacher at St Peter's College, Saltley, Birmingham, before working at a secondary school in Kent for two years. After re-training to become a teacher of English as a Foreign Language he worked in Sweden for thirteen years. During this period he wrote several English language teaching books. His teaching career has included time working in rural Sweden, a sojourn that first sparked his now enduring interest in Scandinavian history and culture - an interest that after many years of research, both academic and in the field, led him to write 'Finn's Fate' and the sequel novel, 'Three Kings - One Throne'. His boyhood interest in Georgian military history was re-kindled by a visit to the Red Coats' Museum in Salisbury, and subsequently developed by time spent doing research in Quebec and New York State. Today, Michael works part-time as Ombudsman for English UK, the national association of English language providers. Though a lot of his spare time is spent with grandchildren, he also has a wide range of interests including researching for future books, writing, playing the guitar, carpentry and electronics. He spends at least two months a year sailing his boat which is currently in Scandinavia. You can also stay up-to-date by visiting his website: www.michaelwills.eu