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About the Author:
Stuart Bennett is an antiquarian bookseller in Charleston, South Carolina specializing in, among other things, English literature, social history, and children’s books printed before 1850. He became a Christie’s auctioneer in London in 1976, started his own rare book business in 1980, and more recently served as president of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America from 2008-2010. In addition to his novels The Perfect Visit (2011), Lord Moira’s Echo (2014), and The Indifferent Suitor (2017) he is author of the Christie’s Collectors’ Guide How to Buy Photographs (1987), Trade Bookbinding in the British Isles (2004), and many publications on early photography, auctions and auctioneers, and rare books.
About the Book:
In the spring of 1780, Polly Cooper, a young patriot, decides to smuggle rifles to her brothers defending Charleston against the British siege. As she approaches the city, she is captured by 25-year-old Irish Colonel Lord Rawdon, who offers safe passage in exchange for three dances at the next ball to celebrate the British victory. So begins an improbable romance between rebel and redcoat as Charleston falls and Rawdon spends the next year trying to subdue the South Carolina backcountry. As the war continues to unfold, Polly finds herself struggling with social niceties and divided loyalties. As Rawdon wins a succession of battles, he begins to discover that victory in both love and war eludes him. Filled with historical detail recounting fashion trends, geographical references, the dangerous reality of battle, and the struggle with disease, The Charleston Gambit accurately captures the beauty, intensity, and heartbreak felt by the entire South Carolina Lowcountry.