Seacoast Academy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . an independent middle School

A hallmark of the humanities program is our Visiting Writers series which bring published authors to the school to speak with students about their craft and even workshop with our young authors.

This clothbound, historical fiction covers the years from 1755 to 1789, centering on Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

While researching his family background in 2002, author Stephen Clarkson was surprised to discover that his first ancestor in

America

had owned a slave. His story opens with the purchase at auction of an African teenager from

Senegal

by James Clarkson, a Portsmouth tanner. The young man is renamed Will. Will Clarkson fights with distinction in the American Revolution with the New Hampshire militia and the Continental Army and subsequently petitions the New Hampshire Legislature for his freedom.

Stephen Clarkson is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Virginia Law School. He practiced law in New York City and Washington D.C. and was Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. Now retired, he and his wife Mary Claire make their home in Rye, New Hampshire, where he lived as a boy. Patriot’s Reward is his first novel

Danny Parsons is a dreamer. He loves nothing better than to close his eyes and let the world slip away, dreaming of India, or Alaska, or Kenya�anywhere but his home, living any life but his life. Danny is sure that he was supposed to be someone else, living in a more interesting place, with a more interesting family. Danny’s sister, Bridget, believes that Danny’s life is more interesting than he knows: she thinks he can set events in motion by touching equations. When she gives him an equation dealing with Chaos Theory to carry in his pocket, an amazing thing happens: Danny’s family separates into two. We can’t choose our families. But Danny Parsons can. Trapped in the chaos of the quantum world, he’s approaching the moment where he will have to, at last, choose�between the father he’s always wanted, and the family he desperately needs.

Ron King lives with his wife and their three sons in a small town on the coast of New Hampshire. He is a teacher in the winter and spends his summers throwing batting practice, developing his technique for grilling the perfect hot dog, and writing last year's Christmas letter. The Quantum July is his first novel.

Todd Hearon's recent poems appear in AGNI, Ploughshares, Poetry, Poetry London, Slate, The New Republic and Literary Imagination. He's the recipient of a Dobie Paisano fellowship (University of Texas at Austin), a 2007 PEN New England "Discovery" Award and the 2007 Friends of Literature Prize from Poetry magazine. He lives and teaches in Exeter, New Hampshire.

SEACOAST ACADEMY
an independent middle school

356 Exeter Road
Hampton Falls, New Hampshire 03844
603-772-9093
www.seacoastacademy.org