George Johnson’s War is an accomplished work of historical “faction.” Garvie and Beaty have done much research on the fascinating Johnson family, real-life central players in the drama of the American War of Independence. The story is told from the youngest son’s point of view. George, six when it opens, grows up straddling two very different worlds – as son of a rich and powerful English baronet, colonist Sir William Johnson, and Molly Brant, stepdaughter of the Mohawk chief.

The authors, filling gaps in a family history pieced together from letters and historical accounts, trace the Johnsons’ flight from their beloved home, Mohawk Valley, to a fort near Kingston. There, British loyalists have promised them protection in return for continued Mohawk support. Journeying through icy forests, the Johnsons face bears, rebel snipers, and famine. Later George, studying at a Montreal school, is ostracized as a “half-breed.” He is sustained throughout by his hope of a reunion with his soldier brother, Peter.

George hero-worships Peter, who, at 16, joins the King’s Rangers in the war against the American rebels, and, more specifically, against the encroaching tide of illegal white settlers in Mohawk Valley. George’s devotion to Peter, and the undaunted courage of his mother Molly, are just two poignant aspects of a fine novel.

Garvie and Beaty shape their collaboration into an elegant, seamless narrative without sounding a single anachronistic note.They can’t resist, however, in their portrait of the heroic Johnsons, glossing over their ownership of several slaves.

The authors create a proleptic sense of tragedy as they document the trust the Mohawks place in King George III’s promises, laying down their lives in a white man’s campaign. When George as a teen joins the Rangers, he learns about not only the true nature of war, but also the perfidy of men in power.