Check out the fascinating discussion of Deborah Samson’s life with author Alex Myers from March 16! (Will be taken down after the meeting on April 19 so watch it soon). It really complements the reading of the book.

The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) will hold its next book club meeting on Tuesday April 19 at 7 pm, on Zoom. The book will be Revolutionary by Alex Myers (himself transgender and a descendant of Deborah Samson). Anyone with an interest in the book is welcome; participants do not have to be members of APT. No registration or payment is required. Please come prepared to discuss the book.

NOTE: Author Alex Myers is the speaker for APT’s meeting on Wednesday March 16. The meeting will be on Zoom and is open to all free of charge.

“A remarkable novel” (The New York Times) about America’s first female soldier, Deborah Sampson Gannett, who ran away from home in 1782, successfully disguised herself as a man, and fought valiantly in the Revolutionary War.

At a time when rigid societal norms seemed absolute, Deborah Sampson risked everything in search of something better. Revolutionary, Alex Myers’s richly imagined and carefully researched debut novel, tells the story of a fierce-tempered young woman turned celebrated solider and the remarkable courage, hope, fear, and heartbreak that shaped her odyssey during the birth of a nation.

After years of indentured servitude in a sleepy Massachusetts town, Deborah chafes under the oppression of colonial society and cannot always hide her discontent. When a sudden crisis forces her hand, she decides to escape the only way she can, rejecting her place in the community in favor of the perilous unknown. Cutting her hair, binding her chest, and donning men’s clothes stolen from a neighbor, Deborah sheds her name and her home, beginning her identity-shaking transformation into the imaginary “Robert Shurtliff”—a desperate and dangerous masquerade that grows more serious when “Robert” joins the Continental Army.

What follows is a journey through America’s War of Independence like no other—an unlikely march through cold winters across bloody battlefields, the nightmare of combat and the cruelty of betrayal, the elation of true love and the tragedy of heartbreak. As The Boston Globe raves, “Revolutionary succeeds on a number of levels, as a great historical-military adventure story, as an exploration of gender identity, and as a page-turning description of the fascinating life of the revolutionary Deborah Sampson.”

Contact Board Director-at-Large Annie Leguennec with any questions or future book suggestions.