Trolley Days

Trolley Days, Book 1 of the Trolley Days Series, is the story of an unlikely friendship between two boys growing up in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in the nineteen-teens. Jack Bernard is the son of a mill worker who emigrated from Canada, Tom Wellington the son of the mill owner. Jack is shy and socially a bit awkward, Tom self-assured and smooth-talking. But for all their differences, the two boys have much in common. They love fishing, sports, and all manner of youthful tomfoolery. Each has suffered the loss of a sibling, tragedies that have affected both families deeply.In the opening chapter a blizzard is approaching as Jack boards a train for the long trip to Boston. He has received a cryptic letter informing him that Tom is in a Boston jail. Despite a recent falling-out between the two, Jack still considers Tom his best friend, and he refuses to allow a snowstorm to prevent him from going to Tom's aid. Soon Jack will be plunged into a mystery that calls on all his courage and determination to solve, even as his friend's life hangs in the balance. To save his friend, Jack will need the assistance of Tom's sister, Anne, but that will require Jack and Anne to reconcile their fractured relationship.Does friendship have its limits? Can bonds of trust, once broken, be repaired? Can we learn from life's tragedies and move on, or must we carry them like lead weights on our hearts forever? In Trolley Days it seems it is the young who bear the heaviest of life's burdens and must marshal the strength to free themselves and their parents. Robert T. McMaster grew up in Southbridge, Massachusetts. He completed his undergraduate education at Clark University, then earned graduate degrees from Boston College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts. Early in his career he taught middle school science, then worked as an administrator for several environmental education organizations. After completing his graduate studies, he taught biology at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, Massachusetts, for twenty years.The nineteen-teens have long interested Robert McMaster. He found inspiration in his parents' reminiscences of growing up in that era, particularly his father's stories of riding the streetcars that plied city streets and country roads in those days. Those stories led to his first novel, Trolley Days, published in 2012, then The Dyeing Room (2013), Noah's Raven (2017), and Darkest Before Dawn (2022). The series follows the lives of four young people growing up in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in the tumultuous World War I era (www.TrolleyDays.net).Robert McMaster's fascination with Edward Hitchcock (1793-1864), renowned American geologist and paleontologist, began when he visited the Pratt Museum of Natural History at Amherst College over half a century ago. In 2014, while doing research for one of his novels, he discovered to his great surprise that there had never been a biography written of Hitchcock. In 2021 he published All the Light Here Comes from Above: The Life and Legacy of Edward Hitchcock. More than a century-and-a-half after his death, the story of one of nineteenth-century America's most influential scientists at last had been told (www.EdwardHitchcock.com).The author's ancestral ties to Ireland led him to undertake another project, the County Wicklow Mystery Series including Rose of Glenkerry and Fugitive from Injustice, stories of mystery and romance set against the stunning backdrop of Ireland's County Wicklow (www.WicklowMysteries.com).