The Smuggler’s Gambit

In this historical coming-of-age novel, a 17-year-old boy becomes caught up in mercantile intrigue in coastal 18th-century North Carolina. After getting into one too many fights, Adam Fletcher is given a choice: find an apprenticeship or go to prison. Electing to serve with a shipping merchant, he signs on with the reclusive Emmanuel Rogers, who proves to be a hard but fair master. Nevertheless discontent, Adam speaks with Rogers’s rival, the popular Richard Rasquelle, only to discover that Rasquelle wants him to spy on Rogers on suspicion of smuggling. A pawn caught between two powerful men, Adam must decide where his loyalties lie and what he’s willing to do to keep out of trouble. First-time novelist Whitford delivers an enjoyable tale, though the dialogue occasionally comes off as stiff and the conversations repetitious. There’s a wealth of detail about life in Colonial America, which sometimes threatens to overwhelm the flow of the narrative of this pleasant, low-key story. A sequel, Captured in the Caribbean, is also available. Ages 12–up. (BookLife)