Early one morning in the year 1754 the stillness of Charlestown, New Hampshire, was shattered by shrill war whoops and the terror of an Indian raid. Young Miriam Willard, on a day which had promised new happiness, found herself instead a captive on a forest trail, caught up in the ebb and flow of the French and Indian War.

It was a harrowing march north. Miriam could only force herself to the next stopping place, the next small portion of food, the next icy scream to be crossed. At the end of the trail waited the Indian gantlet and perhaps a life of slavery. Mingled with her thoughts of Phineas Whitney, the young man on his way to Harvard who had captured her heart at the fort, was the crying of her sister's baby, Captive, born on the trail.

Miriam and her companions finally reached Montreal, a city of shifting loyalties filled with the intrigue of war. Here by a sudden twist of fortune Mirima met the prominent Du Quesne family, who introduced her to a life of fashion and luxury she had never imagined; Hortense, the French girl who taught her that friendship knows no nationality; and Pierre, the dashing young coureur de bois who compelled her to make the most important decision of her life.

Based on an actual narrative diary published in 1807, Calico Captive skillfully re-enacts an absorbing facet of history. Black and white line drawings by W.T. Mars catch the flavor and excitement of the period.

From the dust jacket