Winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015, this is a beautiful piece of historical fiction told with heart and humanity. Winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2015. "What kind of a girl steals the clothes from a dead man's back and runs off to join the army? A desperate one. That's who." At the end of the American Civil War, Charley - a young African-American slave from the deep south - is ostensibly freed. But then her adopted mother is raped and lynched at the hands of a mob and Charley is left alone. In a terrifyingly lawless land, where the colour of a person's skin can bring violent death, Charley disguises herself as a man and joins the army. Soon she's being sent to the prairies to fight a whole new war against the "savage Indians". Trapped in a world of injustice and inequality, it's only when Charley is posted to Apache territory that she begins to learn what it is to be truly free.

 

This book was recognised by the Carnegie Award. The CILIP Carnegie Medal is awarded by childrens librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people.

This book has been graded for interest at 14+ years.

There are 368 pages in this book. This book was published 2014 by Walker Books Ltd .

Tanya Landman has written numerous books for children and young people including the Sam Swann series, Apache, The Goldsmith's Daughter, Mondays Are Murder and the beautiful picture book Mary's Penny. Tanya lives in Bideford, Devon. Visit Tanya at www. tanyalandman. com.