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Nominated ISBN: 0679447172

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Review of The Gates of the Alamo with links to author interview and excerpt from the novel

A novel about the siege and fall of the Alamo, an event that formed the consciousness of Texas, and that resonates through American History. The time is 1835. At the centre of a canvas crowded with Mexicans and Americans, with Karankawa and Comanche Indians, with settlers of many nationalities, stand three people whose fortunes quickly become our urgent concern: Edmund McGowan, a naturalist of towering courage and intellect, whose life's work is threatened by the war against Mexico and whose character is tested by his own dangerous pride: Mary Mott, a widowed innkeeper of the Texas coast, a determined and resourceful woman: and her sixteen-year-old son, Terrell, whose first shattering experience with love leads him instead to war. As Edmond and Mary take off in pursuit of Terrell and follow him into the fortress, the powerful but wary attraction between them deepens. They are drawn into the harrowing days of the battle itself. The story of the battle is told, not just from the perspective of the American defenders but from that of the Mexican attackers as well: Blas Montoya, a sergeant in an elite sharpshooter company, fights to keep his men alive not only in the inferno of battle but also during the long forced march north from Mexico proper to Texas.