The Bastard: The Kent Family Chronicles (71 page)

“You mean independency?”

“Yes—maybe declared by that very Congress meeting in May. Philip, it has to come! A new country. Free of the old bonds just like you’re free of them. But we’ll weather everything—and turn the Kent family into something strong and fine.”

He let himself smile a little, saying:

“Provided your father doesn’t put a ball through me first. Where is he?”

“Down at the pond hauling out the flour barrels.” She laughed. “I told him I felt an attack of female dizziness coming on. He’s utterly confounded by such things. I said I was going back to Wright’s to rest—but I was really coming to hunt for you again. By the time you return, I’ll see that he’s properly tamed—since you’ve decided to do the decent thing,” she finished, teasing.

He kissed her for another long, sweet moment

“Somehow, I think you’re right, Anne.”

“About what?”

He pressed her hand. “I think the Kents will turn out to be a very fine family indeed.”

He retrieved his fallen musket and, after one final wave, started walking east.

Philip headed out of Concord in company with other men. A great many sang. Some recounted the fight at the bridge second or third hand, or continued making obscene jokes at the expense of the royal troops. Philip’s belly growled. How long was it since he’d eaten or slept? It seemed an age.

Yet there was a spring in his stride; a fresh sense of direction. Despite the uncertainties and dangers ahead, he was, for a few moments, completely happy.

The euphoria didn’t last long.

How would England react now? he wondered. With armed might, surely. Unrestricted and unrestrained. Only in that way could the King hope to put down this rebellion in the cause of freedom—

No matter. He’d follow the road from Concord wherever it led. And come back to Anne, and see their baby born. The first one, then many more—

Dirty, weary, he still hummed a little as he left the highway and started to climb the hillside toward the ridge, where he thought he’d glimpsed some of the Concord contingent. The higher he climbed, the hotter the sun seemed to burn. Almost like a fire on his face.

He climbed toward the blue sky and the free air at the crest of the ridge and caught up with three men he recognized. He was soon out of sight of Concord, lost among the other Americans streaming east to fight.

Several people deserve a generous share of thanks for their contributions to this book.

First, Lyle Engel, whose concept of the series provided the canvas for this panoramic picture of our beginnings as a nation.

Maria Ray merits special mention for her editorial help and continuing encouragement.

Norman Goldfind, vice-president and editorial director of Pyramid Books, who developed the concept with Mr. Engel, has lavished the kind of interest and attention on the project that, all too often, an author finds missing.

And Norman and Ann Kearns, senior editor at Pyramid, must be thanked for a host of perceptive suggestions that helped strengthen the final work immeasurably.

Finally, I must tender appreciation to my family, who collectively endured months of three different typewriters clacking at strange times, small mountains of research books cluttering up the otherwise orderly premises and periods of authorial gloom and doom alternating with nonstop monologues about Paul Revere’s dentistry or Dr. Franklin’s air baths that monopolized dinner-table conversations. My wife especially was patience personified when I kept the lights on and the coffee kettle whistling in more predawn hours than I’m sure she cares to count.

I often think that far too many Americans today do not know how and why this country came into being—and, more tragic, do not care. Perhaps in some small way, these novels will help remedy that unhappy situation—and prove, at the same time, as entertaining as only an epic adventure of the spirit can be.

To all those people named, who have been instrumental in my own personal rediscovery of our heritage—a rediscovery that has been, if I may be allowed to use the word in this cynical age, inspiring—I owe a lasting debt.

And Don—thank you for that very first phone call.

JOHN JAKES

John Jakes is a bestselling author of historical fiction, science fiction, children’s books, and nonfiction. He is best known for his highly acclaimed eight-volume Kent Family Chronicles series, an American family saga that reaches from the Revolutionary War to 1890, and the North and South Trilogy, which follows two families from different regions during the American Civil War. His commitment to historical accuracy and evocative storytelling earned him the title “godfather of historical novelists” from the
Los Angeles Times
and led to his streak of sixteen consecutive
New York Times
bestsellers.

Born in Chicago in 1932, Jakes originally studied to be an actor, but he turned to writing professionally after selling his first short story for twenty-five dollars during his freshman year at Northwestern University. That check, Jakes later said, “changed the whole direction of my life.” He enrolled in DePauw University’s creative writing program shortly thereafter and graduated in 1953. The following year, he received his master’s degree in American literature from Ohio State University.  

While at DePauw, Jakes met Rachel Ann Payne, whom he married in 1951. After finishing his studies, Jakes worked as a copywriter for a large pharmaceutical company before transitioning to advertising, writing copy for several large firms, including Madison Avenue’s Dancer Fitzgerald Sample. At night, he continued to write fiction, publishing two hundred short stories and numerous mystery, western, and science fiction books. He turned to historical fiction, long an interest of his, in 1973 when he started work on
The Bastard
, the first novel of the Kent Family Chronicles. Jakes’s masterful hand at historical fiction catapulted
The Bastard
(1974) onto the bestseller list—with each subsequent book in the series matching
The Bastard
’s commercial success. Upon publication of the next three books in the series—
The Rebels
(1975),
The Seekers
(1975), and
The Furies
(1976)—Jakes became the first-ever writer to have three books on the
New York Times
bestseller list in a single year. The series has maintained its popularity, and there are currently more than fifty-five million copies of the Kent Family Chronicles in print worldwide.

Jakes followed the success of his first series with the North and South Trilogy, set before, during, and after the Civil War. The first volume,
North and South
, was published in 1982 and reaffirmed Jakes’s standing as a “master of the ancient art of story telling” (
The New York Times Book Review
). Following the lead of
North and South
, the other two books in the series,
Love and War
(1984) and
Heaven and Hell
(1987), were chart-topping bestsellers. The trilogy was also made into an ABC miniseries—a total of thirty hours of programming—starring Patrick Swayze. Produced by David L. Wolper for Warner Brothers
North and South
remains one of the highest-rated miniseries in television history.

The first three Kent Family Chronicles were also made into a television miniseries, produced by Universal Studios and aired on the Operation Prime Time network. Andrew Stevens starred as the patriarch of the fictional family. In one scene, Jakes himself appears as a scheming attorney sent to an untimely end by villain George Hamilton.

In addition to historical fiction, Jakes penned many works of science fiction, including the Brak the Barbarian series, published between 1968 and 1980. Following his success with the Kent Family Chronicles and the North and South Trilogy, Jakes continued writing historical fiction with the stand-alone novel
California Gold
and the Crown Family Saga (
Homeland
and its sequel,
American Dreams
).

Jakes remains active in the theater as an actor, director, and playwright. His adaptation of
A Christmas Carol
is widely produced by university and regional theaters, including the prestigious Alabama Shakespeare Festival and theaters as far away as Christchurch, New Zealand. He holds five honorary doctorates, the most recent of which is from his alma mater Ohio State University. He has filmed and recorded public service announcements for the American Library Association and hasreceived many other awards, including a dual Celebrity and Citizen’s Award from the White House Conference on Libraries and Information and the Cooper Medal from the Thomas Cooper Library at the University of South Carolina. Jakes is a member of the Authors Guild, the Dramatists Guild, the PEN American Center, and Writers Guild of America East. He also serves on the board of the Authors Guild Foundation.

Jakes and his wife have four children and eleven grandchildren. After living for thirty-two years on a South Carolina barrier island, they now reside in Sarasota, Florida, where Jakes has resumed his volunteer work on behalf of theaters and libraries while he continues writing.