Eagle Fur

by Robert Newton Peck

Here, from the author of the much loved A Day No Pigs Would Die , is an enthralling novel about a 16 year old orphan boy in the wilds of pioneer Canada.It is 1754, and the French and Indian War is brewing across the North American continent. Young Abbott Coe - without family or friends - arrives at Fort Albany to begin his life (wearing an iron collar) as indentured bondservant to Skinner Benet, fur trader and representative of the far-flung Hudson's Bay Company. Benet is hard, but as rigorous with himself as he is with others. And not unjust. And Abbott begins to respect his master, for Benet proves to be both generous and brilliant at teaching him the skills, lore, and discipline necessary to survive on a bleak and savage frontier.Abbott Coe's world begins to widen through the friendship of the brave patrician soldier from Scotland, Ensign Owen McKee; and through his feelings, which he finds difficult to control, for the Indian girl Doe, who belongs to Benet. "Benet will kill you," she whispers, when Abbott first looks at her with admiration...Benet, Abbott, and Ensign McKee embark on a trading expedition deep into the upriver wilderness to trade wiht Sick Bear, a Cree chief. Renegades shadow them, coveting their cargo, threatening their lives. And as the novel moves towards its exciting climax, the boy at last finds the courage to challege his master's authority. Face to face with extraordinary danger, he makes the decisive move that irrevocably transforms his life.--from the book jacket

Genres: Historical Fiction

349 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1978

About the author

Robert Newton Peck is an American author of books for young adults. His titles include Soup and A Day No Pigs Would Die. He claims to have been born on February 17, 1928, in Vermont, but has refused to specify where. Similarly, he claims to have graduated from a high school in Texas, which he has also refused to identify. Some sources state that he was born in Nashville, Tennessee (supposedly where his mother was born, though other sources indicate she was born in Ticonderoga, New York, and that Peck, himself, may have been born there). The only reasonably certain Vermont connection is that his father was born in Cornwall.

Peck has written over sixty books including a great book explaining his childhood to becoming a teenager working on the farm called: A Day no Pigs would Die

He was a smart student, although his schooling was cut short by World War II. During and shortly after the conflict, he served as a machine-gunner in the U.S. Army 88th Infantry Division. Upon returning to the United States, he entered Rollins College, graduating in 1953. He then entered Cornell Law School, but never finished his course of study.

Newton married Dorothy Anne Houston and fathered two children, Anne and Christopher. The best man at the wedding and the godfather to the children was Fred Rogers of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood fame.

A Day No Pigs Would Die was his first novel, published in 1972 when he was already 44 years old. From then on he continued his lifelong journey through literature. To date, he has been credited for writing 55 fiction books, 6 nonfiction books, 35 songs, 3 television specials and over a hundred poems.

Several of his historical novels are about Fort Ticonderoga: Fawn, Hang for Treason, The King's Iron.

In 1993, Peck was diagnosed with oral cancer, but survived. As of 2005, he was living in Longwood, Florida, where he has in the past served as the director of the Rollins College Writers Conference. Peck sings in a barbershop quartet, plays ragtime piano, and is an enthusiastic speaker. His hobby is visiting schools, "to turn kids on to books."

—From Wikipedia

For more information, please see http://www.answers.com/topic/robert-n...

Reviews

[Jim Greene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. I like the historical & Canadian setting. Really a young adult book