Cottonwood AZ (October 23, 2013) – Family history and the inscription on an ancestor’s headstone inspired longtime Arizona resident, Joy Pennock Gage, to write her eighteenth book, The Patriot and the Plough. She is a descendant of the Pennock family of Vermont, some of whom fought in the Revolutionary War. Her latest historical novel will be released Nov. 6 by Rook Publishing and will be available through Amazon or directly from the publishers at sales@rookpublishing.com.
The book spans the time period from 1775 through 1781 and captures the struggles of a Loyalist town that eventually supports the Patriot cause. Gage, who also teaches and mentors writers internationally, said, “All good stories involve conflict. The Patriot and the Plough is set against the backdrop of the struggles for our nation’s independence from England. On a very rainy day, I visited the old Strafford, Vermont cemetery to see an ancestor’s headstone on which was engraved, ‘Let it be remembered that this family was the first that broke the soil in this town, 1768.’”
Joy Pennock Gage has written both nonfiction and fiction books. She and her husband, the Reverend Kenneth Gage, reside in Cottonwood.