The Miniature

From the moment Jonathan Whitman first glimpsed the portrait
of the beautiful Catherine Rowland, painted in miniature and set
within a golden locket, he was hopelessly in love. And when he
stumbled across the young woman's brother, Phillip, lying
bleeding and left for dead in the sodden English countryside, he
had no idea the dramatic change his life would undergo.
Jonathan, a tailor's apprentice, and Molly Hoskins, the tailor's
daughter, hide Phillip until he is strong enough to travel to the
coast and set sail with his family to their home in Boston. Once
again Jonathan saves Phillip's life, only to find his too is in grave
danger and he is forced to join the Rowlands on their voyage to
Boston with the promise of a new life in the American Colonies.




But life in the Americas is fraught with its own perils as
Jonathan and the Rowlands are faced with the threat of the
untamed wilderness and swept up into the fight for freedom from
England's tyrannical rule. Determined to prove his worth,
Jonathan accompanies a party of surveyors only to fall victim to
ambush by a vicious outlaw and his band of renegade Indians.
Unbeknownst to all Jonathan escapes with his life, and smarting
from his perceived betrayal he decides to remain with the Indians
he comes to love. He is no longer a boy, but a changed man who
emerges some time later, respected in his own right and walking
among the Indians as one of their own. Until the hated outlaw
once again brings tragedy to his life and Jonathan vows to
avenge the man who, for the second time, took from him all that
he once held dear.




Then Jonathan learns that Catherine has been taken captive by
the very man he swore to kill, and her fate now rests in his
hands. But Catherine would rather die than be rescued by the
wild and rugged Indian, until she discovers a small bag tied
around his neck, concealing an exquisite golden locket, a gift to
a boy she once loved, and now home to the beautiful miniature
cradled inside.