The Patriote Proposition
By Thomas Thorpe  

     Elizabeth Darmon is one of three married sisters who have come out of England to live new lives with their pioneering men folk. But when she is too ill to accompany her family on a picnic and has to wait for their return, she is horrified to discover that the only thing returning is an empty carriage. Thus begins a thrilling quest to find her family and get to the bottom of a conspiracy that threatens not only their safety, but the future of her adopted country. Meanwhile her brother-in-law, Charles Bagwell, has awakened from his ordeal, but he has no memory of who he is. As English and French struggle to own the territory and rival factions plot and scheme, the two protagonists search for each other and try to solve the mystery.

     This is one of the thinnest novels I have read for a long time and one of the most exciting - at times it seems almost impossible that so many incidents can be crammed into just under 200 pages, but somehow they are. Bursting at the seams with story, it also finds room for some real history of a little-known period (well, when did you last read a novel set in 1830's Canada?), and a plucky heroine to boot whom female readers will certainly enjoy reading about, even if her exploits sometimes seem a little too much for a gently-bred lady. The only real problem I had with such an engaging book was the tired old ploy of having one of the main characters as the victim of amnesia, turning what should have been some sterling drama into melodrama for no real reason. This aside, I would recommend this to anybody who likes a good old-fashioned (in a positive sense, apart from the melodrama) adventure story.