The New York Times - David Shribman
This is a bona fide and unforgettable Revolutionary War novel, much the way Esther Forbes's Johnny Tremain was, and Howard Fast's April Morning, too…an approachable, imaginative novel, a tale of muskets and masquerade, of marches and mutiny, that is also an evocative portrayal of life in the Continental Army, capturing the mixture of bravado and boredom of army life. It is hard to repress the thought that in pretending she is someone else, Mr. Myers's secret soldier is doing little more than what all soldiers do, quite literally putting on a brave face for battle…a remarkable novel.
Publishers Weekly
08/19/2013
This deftly written debut historical novel from male transgender author Alex Myers follows a strong-willed young woman who takes a huge gamble and fights as a male soldier for the American colonists. Deborah Sampson is a 22-year-old indentured weaver who confides in her closest friend, Jennie Newcomb, about her desperate need to escape their oppressive small Massachusetts town. After surviving a sexual assault, Deborah dresses as a young man, skips town, and reinvents herself as “Robert D. S. Shurtliff.” She meets a recruiter and manages to pass herself off as a boy old enough to enlist in the Continental Army. Writing as Robert, she begins a correspondence with Jennie before Deborah marches with her regiment to their new military base at West Point. She befriends James Snow, an apprentice blacksmith and fellow private. Keeping up her male disguise proves tricky, but her army peers accept her as a full member of the light infantry. She likes the freedom and respect accorded a male enough to convince herself she wants to maintain her masquerade. Problems arise when Corporal Shaw threatens to expose her true gender before she makes a good showing during a British ambush. After suffering a tremendous personal loss, Deborah undergoes a change of heart about her role as a man (Robert), and as a woman (Deborah), in Myers’s original and affecting novel. (Jan.)
author of Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier - Alfred F. Young
"Alex Myers' novel is terrific. The book is a page turner; it has characters you care about; and it is imaginative in the best sense of the word. Myers' recreation of Deborah Sampson at war is vivid and full of suspense ... I look forward to its success."
author of Why Teach - Mark Edmundson
"A novel of the American Revolution by a writer who is himself a true American revolutionary."
Robin Oliviera
I raced through this vividly imagined tale, unable to put it down. It is a remarkable story of a quest for independence so unusual and startling that it is remarkable to know that it was based on the author's ancestor, a young indentured woman who discovered the freedom and ultimately the cost of becoming a man. Set during the Revolutionary War, it is teeming with insight, as astonishing as it is readable, a story that reveals the limitations women faced and the courage it took to defy them.
author of The Problem with Murmur Lee and Before Women had Wings - Connie May Fowler
"Alex Myers’ debut novel is a marvel. Revolutionary explores the life of Deborah Samson who, passing as a man, fought in the Revolutionary War. In this exquisitely rendered fictional account, Myers paints a portrait of a complex woman whose tribulations and triumphs echo in our own time. This is a book about what it means to be a hero, a woman, and a person who refuses to accept the limiting roles society imposes. It also, deftly and with grace, explores the intricate and shifting boundaries of passion and love."
author of Windless Summer - Heather Sharfeddin
"Alex Myers' debut novel, Revolutionary, is more than an accounting of Deborah Sampson's amazing Revolutionary war feat of enlisting and serving a three-year tour in the army disguised as a man; it is an exploration of the irony of such circumstances. In following her true nature—who she is at heart—Deborah creates for herself a duplicitous life fraught with personal risk. This beautifully written account is a reminder that gender identity and the struggle for equal rights has always been with us. Perhaps now, in our time, we can set aside our biases and not simply ask how Deborah Sampson did what she did, but understand why."
Booklist
[Myers'] straightforward, clear prose lets the important and complex issues he raises shine through…thought-provoking.
The Advocate
"[Revolutionary] is an exciting account of a young woman who experiences the sudden freedom that comes with shedding the constrictions of societal gender norms at a time when such a thing was unheard of."
San Francisco Chronicle
"[An] evocative debut novel... Revolutionary, of course, is a work of fiction, not history, and Myers' great accomplishment is creating a moving version of Sampson's inner life."
The Boston Globe
A vividly detailed fictionalization of the true story of Massachusetts-born Deborah Sampson... Revolutionary succeeds on a number of levels, as a great historical-military adventure story, as an exploration of gender identity, and as a page-turning description of [a] fascinating life.
The New York Times
This is a bona fide and unforgettable Revolutionary War novel. … [An] approachable, imaginative novel, a tale of muskets and masquerade, of marches and mutiny, that is also as an evocative portrayal of life in the Continental Army.… Remarkable.
Kirkus Reviews
2013-10-05
Myers' debut, a novel based upon the true life of a woman who disguised herself as a man and fought in the Revolutionary War, illuminates questions about gender equality and identity. In 1782, former indentured servant Deborah Sampson yearns to experience the freedoms that fall only to men, so she dons male attire and enlists in the Continental Army. After her original attempt to become a soldier is foiled, she tries once again, this time stealing away to a different town and adopting her deceased brother's name, Robert Shurtliff, as her own. Worried about revealing his secret, Robert works harder than most to master military drills, and he's proud when he and three other recruits are chosen for West Point's light infantry. He shares a tent with Tobias, a fellow book lover who excels with a needle and thread, young runaway Matthew and good-natured James, who teaches Robert how to spit. As the recruits learn to care for their muskets, shoot at targets and march in formation, Robert revels in his treatment as an equal and begins to react intuitively to situations as a man. (The author cleverly illustrates the transition through the interchange of feminine and masculine pronouns.) He sporadically writes to his childhood friend Jennie, who keeps him informed about events back home. Robert's military service is marked by hardships: long treks, constant fear of discovery, others' traitorous acts, brutal clashes on the battlefield and heart-rending loss; but he also experiences contentment: unconditional love from another, the regiment's spirit of camaraderie, acceptance by men as a person of value (which he believes was lacking when he went about life as a woman) and bravery on the battlefield. Myers' excellent research and skilled writing combine to create an absorbing story with an interesting protagonist and topics worth contemplating. The author presents a time in early American history when the social and legal ramifications of being born a woman or being transgender meant suffering in anonymity. Has anything changed? A fine debut.
