by Lila Guzmán
“My God!” I muttered in disbelief. “I’m in charge of Gibson’s Lambs.”
“Now they’re your Lambs,” Calderón pointed out.
In July, I turned sixteen. With a steady job and a bright future in the military, I could marry Eugenie, raise a family, and fight for freedom for all Americans.
I barely heard the discussion from that point on. Overcome with joy, I leaned back and took a sip of tea. Tea. Papá’s favorite drink. I smiled at the memory. It still hurt to think about Papá. Would the pain and sorrow of losing him ever lessen?
I was now Captain Lorenzo Bannister of the Continental Army, a special envoy for General Washington. As I said the words to myself, I imagined Papá’s joy in heaven as he looked down and watched me serve the cause of liberty.
Historical Information
People sometimes ask: “How much of the Lorenzo series is true?”
All the Lorenzo novels are fiction, but they are based on facts. We call our writing “Faction.”
Writing a historical novel is a special challenge in many ways. Sometimes, crucial information is missing. For example, we were unable to find descriptions of George Gibson or William Linn. No one seems to have painted a portrait of either man. We based our description of George Gibson on the portrait of his son, John Banister Gibson. William Linn was killed by Indians in 1781. Linn Station Road in Louisville, Kentucky, bears his name. Unfortunately, no one knows what he looked like.
Lorenzo’s Revolutionary Quest (Book 2). General George Washington names Lorenzo a captain in the Continental Army. Lorenzo goes on another challenging mission to Texas to purchase 500 head of cattle from the Spanish. With Colonel De Gálvez’s aid, Lorenzo struggles to herd the cattle and his soldiers to the Mississippi River via the King’s Highway—a rustic dirt road through the provinces of Texas and Louisiana.
Lorenzo and the Turncoat (Book 3). Lorenzo is living in New Orleans and working as a medical doctor. A hurricane sweeps through New Orleans two days before Lorenzo and Eugenie’s wedding, leaving the town severely damaged and Eugenie missing. This novel focuses on the Battle of Baton Rouge in 1779 and the scarlet fever.
Lorenzo and the Pirate (Book 4). In his next adventure, eighteenyear-old Lorenzo Bannister boards a pirate ship to render medical aid. His act of kindness leads him on a fast-paced adventure that includes an amputation, a naval battle with the British, and a shipwreck on a deserted island (Cozumel).
We are currently working on the fifth book, Lorenzo and the Prison Ship in which the British capture Lorenzo and imprison him on the infamous prison ship, Jersey. Future novels will find Lorenzo at the Battle of Pensacola and the Battle of Yorktown.
To read first chapters of the Lorenzo series, visit
www.lilaguzman.com.
If you would like to schedule an author visit, please contact Lila at [email protected]. Put “author visit” in the subject line.