Truly Are the Free

2018 Writer's Digest 2018 Self-Published Book Awards Honorable Mention
2018 B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree
2018 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Finalist
2018 Discovered Diamond
2018 Goethe Award for Historical Fiction Long-Listed
2017 Wishing Shelf Book Awards Finalist
South Boston-native Ned Tobin has all the luck. Alive after the Somme, now an officer, he meets, beds and falls in love with the alluring Adèle Chéreaux, a half-English lycée teacher who gives herself fully to Ned. Their love affair is suddenly upended in 1917 when Ned is called home and Adèle flees the last German advance of the First World War.
Harlem lawyer Chester Dawkins is a fine young man and a devoted brother. He dutifully joins a new regiment anxious to fight for their chance at valor in the face of deep-rooted racism. Meanwhile, his sister, Lena, is left at home to shoulder a crippling legacy of family debt.
Ned finds himself back in France with Chester’s regiment. Can these soldiers from very different backgrounds overcome long-held prejudices and find common cause in the bloody trenches? Will Ned ever find Adèle again? And what will become of Lena?
Journey through avant-garde Paris, Prohibition-era Harlem and newly independent Ireland in this heart-wrenching yet hopeful story of love and loss. Has Ned’s luck finally run out?