No Place For Us

~ The Year is 1792 ~

Four strangers climb on board the Endeavor, the last ship out for the season, filled with immigrating passengers, a stout crew, and cargo for their new lives. The journey promises to be one of hopeful expectation for the new apprentice doctor, a timid but aspiring preacher, one arrogantly displaced Frenchman, and a Spanish blacksmith who has spent the majority of his life under an oppressive prejudice. A Christmas arrival in the colonies complete with everything they have been dreaming about awaits them on the other side of the ocean. 

Yet a sudden turn of events upends all their carefully laid plans, erasing whatever last shred of hope might remain for that future. Fighting against a hurricane that is tearing apart the very means of their survival, the four men find themselves unexpectedly marooned on an unfamiliar island, dealing with the aftermath of sinister forces that have threatened on more than one occasion to end their very lives. 

Whether they want to or not, each man is now forced to come to terms with the dark creature that he has become and accept certain new truths regarding his physical and spiritual limitations. Can the doctor still practice medicine when the very treatments he uses drag him closer to the darkness he is trying to escape? Does God still have a plan and a purpose for the preacher, or has he been forced onto a very different timeline than what God had ever intended? Is the blacksmith willing to risk the very safety of his family in order to return to them, or must he now accept a life of solitude like the man who rescued them? And finally, will the French prisoner find what he has been searching for as he embraces his new identity, or will his selfish choices only serve to destroy him from the inside out like all the others before him?

As events unfold, though other questions and trials do persist, each man must also find the answer within himself for only one question alone. One overarching theme that will forever motivate his decisions and choices thereafter—

Do I want to live forever?

 

~ The year is 1808 ~

For the past fifteen years, Emile, William, Nathanael and Sebastian have steadily rebuilt their lives along with everyone else in the colonies after the War of Independence, each taking a different path in the new country they have chosen to call home. By all accounts, it has been a profitable decision for everyone, with very few of the problems they helplessly encountered after their difficult transition years ago.

Yet an unexpected accident with fatal consequences shakes the friends to their very core and changes the direction of their lives once again. So much so that everything they had comfortably assumed as a given truth in their new world is now put into question as they grapple with decisions none of them had ever truly contemplated before—questions far deeper than anything they could possibly imagine.

To make matters worse, William’s medical knowledge and decisions are constantly being challenged by one of the newest nurses at the Pennsylvania Hospital, who has made it her personal mission to oversee his every action and offer her own direction in return, with or without his consent. 

Never in all of his life has William felt so out of step with the world around him or his place in it. Which only makes him wonder yet again whether he has made the right decision about coming to America after all, or if he should simply return to his old life in England where he possibly belongs. Or really, anywhere that is far less stressful and more familiar.

Meanwhile, there is talk of another war on the horizon, and Emile must use every skill in his actor’s toolbox to negotiate with his fellow representatives in Congress against taking action. With ships from England poised just off their shores, marauding every vessel that passes and a government that is ready to invade Canada at the least sign of provocation, Emile endeavors to quell the rising tide that threatens to overflow at any minute. A tide that seems to have spilled into his personal life, as well, as he faces demons he thought he had buried long ago.

And just like before, amid all their struggles, it seems they are once again faced with another all-consuming question that will forever direct their futures. A question that most of them thought they knew the answer to but are quickly discovering that they do not. 

What are they willing to sacrifice?

 

~ The year is 1816 ~

The year without a summer.

Adam Townsend has made a profession out of hiding his pain. Since his father died when Adam was quite young, he has chosen to keep to himself, knowing that his time on Earth was also limited. The lofty dreams that everyone speaks of so often have never once entered his mind. Instead, the only thing that holds his focus is his ability to make it to the next day, if not the next hour.

Life as a stagecoach driver has been exciting enough for him, with many interesting passengers, including the austere government representative he has driven back and forth to Washington. For years, he has observed him in passing. He has even gone so far as to form a casual relationship with the man he has come to highly respect. 

Yet when he is tasked with escorting the man’s wife on her first visit to Bedford, Pennsylvania, nothing in all the world could have prepared him for how profoundly his life would change on that journey. 

Meanwhile, Sebastian’s son, Elijah, has his hands full with two successful businesses and a new visitor who has recently arrived from England. A beautiful woman who has captured his attention like no one else ever has. Extremely guarded, yet also oddly familiar, Elijah discovers she has come to Philadelphia with the sole purpose of seeking help from her middle-aged uncle. The same Uncle William who does not look a day older than he did back in 1793.

Torn now between his fierce devotion to his uncle and feelings he has no idea how to sort out, can Elijah deflect her questions long enough to protect his uncle from discovery, or will Juliana’s unexpected secret suddenly force his hand? 

Even more importantly, will Adam learn to adapt to the rules of his new life, or will he continue to resort to his own brand of vigilante justice and endanger everyone?

Where exactly do everyone’s true loyalties lie?

And how far are they willing to go to protect those they love?