Benjamin J. Gohs
Fun Facts
When I was a teenager, I worked for my dad’s dog training
business with duties like picking up poo and wearing a padded sleeve so
protection dogs could attack me. It was, at times, a stinky and scary job.
I put ketchup on my oatmeal. Really grosses out the wife.
I’m obsessed with pencils and have a rather large collection
including some with Dr. Seuss designs, quotes from famous people, and a set
with herb garden seeds inside for planting when the pencils have been used up.
Even though I’ve seen You’ve Got Mail dozens of
times, I cry at the end when they meet in the park. Every time.
When I have a seriously meaningful connection with someone,
I send them a piece of lapis lazuli as a memento of the occasion.
***
When 19-year-old Abeona Browne's renowned abolitionist
father Jon Browne dies in summer of 1860, devastating family secrets are
revealed, and her life of privilege and naiveté in Southern Michigan becomes a
frantic transatlantic search for answers—and someone she didn't even know
existed.
Still in mourning, Abeona sneaks aboard the ship carrying
her father’s attorney Terrence Swifte and his assistant Djimon—a young man with
his own secrets—on a quest to Africa to fulfil a dying wish.
Along the journey, Abeona learns of her father’s tragic and
terrible past through a collection of letters intended for someone he lost long
ago.
Passage to the Dark Continent is fraught with wild beasts,
raging storms, illness, and the bounty hunters who know Jon Browne’s diaries
are filled with damning secrets which threaten the very anti-slavery movement
he helped to build.
Can Abeona overcome antebellum attitudes and triumph over
her own fears to right the wrongs in her famous family’s sordid past?
Where to Buy
About the Author
Benjamin J. Gohs is a longtime award-winning news editor
whose investigative journalism has included stories of murder, sex-crime,
historical discovery, corruption, and clerical misconduct.
Benjamin now divides his time between writing literary
thrillers and managing the community newspaper he co-founded in 2009.
Mary Ann Bernal attended Mercy College, Dobbs Ferry, NY, where she received a degree in Business Administration. Her literary aspirations were ultimately realized when the first book of The Briton and the Dane novels was published in 2009. In addition to writing historical fiction, Mary Ann has also authored a collection of contemporary short stories in the Scribbler Tales series and a science fiction/fantasy novel entitled Planetary Wars Rise of an Empire. Her latest endeavor is Crusader’s Path, a story of redemption set against the backdrop of the First Crusade.
