Tom Dean

Depth of a Shadow Tom Dean

England and the Great Northern Coalfield 1794. For coal barons, a time when vast fortunes can be made. For miners, a life of bondage and appalling hardship. A powder-keg of discontent that is about to explode with dramatic and life-changing consequences for those caught in its blast. At the epicentre are the Standish family and we follow their struggle for survival during the turbulent years of suppression, rape, murder and betrayal that follow. After many harrowing setbacks they must finally confront the repercussions of a dramatic and irrevocable act of retribution. Depth of a Shadow is an epic historical saga covering the period 1794 to 1816 set against the background of the long gruelling war with France and the British government's determination to keep the lid on the cauldron of discontent being stoked up by the growing radical movement. After the bloody French revolution, the shadow of the guillotine still haunts the British establishment. The sweeping action moves from England to the Caribbean and on to the American eastern seaboard. From fierce naval frigate battles to General Jackson's military campaigns in the South against the Creek Indian Nation and Spanish Florida, culminating at the epoch-making Battle of New Orleans.