Voices Beckon

It is 1783 and David Graham, a Scot indentured for the next six years to a Philadelphia printer, is pacing the Bristol quay, anxiously awaiting the call to board the brig Industry. Brimming with confidence, his thoughts waver between the gut-wrenching knowledge he is leaving his family behind, and the anticipation of the boundless opportunity awaiting him in America.

As he watches the cabin class passengers board the transport, his eyes lock on Elisabeth, a beautiful young Englishwoman whose father will stop at almost nothing to keep her from consorting with the ‘lower sort.’ Sensing his scrutiny, she boldly meets his eyes, withering his new-found swagger.

Shaking the sensation, he joins the boarding queue aside Liam Brock, a cocky Scot alive with an enthusiasm he finds contagious. Recently orphaned, Liam is making the passage with no misgivings or second thoughts, only a desire to escape his dubious past and a vision to claim his future.

Set in late eighteenth-century Philadelphia, Voices Beckon spans seven years in the lives of three teens who form an unwavering bond of friendship, love, and loyalty while on a life-changing voyage to a new nation. Richly evocative of time and place, this sweeping romance chronicles their coming of age against the vivid backdrop of the emerging United States of America.