The Camel Boy

The Camel Boy is a fictional account of historical realism centered on the life of Riley Murphy, an Irish youth orphaned on the Texas frontier. The storyline offers contrasting views of Texas frontier life from 1853 to 1866 as the youth grows to maturity. The reader will view, first hand, army fort life, the wonders of camels at Camp Verde, the political and social forces on family life, guerilla warfare, the emergence of the Civil War, and the last battle of the Civil War fought at Palmito Hill. As Riley grows to manhood, one sees the inevitable forces that mold his character as he experiences a complex range of emotions and attitudes about the war that shape his attitudes and opinions. The author has created an innovative literary technique, breaking the mold of Civil War/western genre novels to make historical accounts real and stirring for the reader.