Hatred is the key

This historical novel follows a number of American prisoners-of-war captured following a vicious sea battle off the east coast of America and their time spent in Dartmoor depot. The war ended in December 1814 but they remained incarcerated in what was the harshest winter for more than a century with little food and the knowledge that they should have been freed. The diabolical conditions, overcrowding, disease, near starvation and boiling anger caused the prisoners to riot and, on the fateful day of 6th April 1815, following the anonymous instruction to fire on the prisoners, a massacre took place. Soon after the massacre the prison was closed for many years until it reopened as the infamous high security Dartmoor prison.

Graham says, “When I first heard about these events in 2002 I couldn’t stop thinking about it and began researching this period. The more I learned the deeper I delved until I wrote the screenplay but as it progressed I felt I had to write the book. It’s taken me seven years but I feel it was well worth the effort.”


FROM THE REVIEWS:

“Compulsive reading” “It felt like I was actually there” “A story waiting to be told”


On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britain. Almost immediately they called for an invasion of Canada.
The initial American successes turned to a number of defeats resulting in English ships effectively blockading the American coastline and subjecting it to a series of hit and run raids and the capture of numerous ships.
The majority of the crew captured from the American ships were transported to Plymouth in south west England to spend their time in the notorious Dartmoor depot, a prison constructed primarily to house 3,000 French.
By the end of December 1814 the war was over but by then more than 10,000 American prisoners-of-war still remained incarcerated in what was the most evil of places.