Rogala in the Crimean War

Companion to The Orphan's Triumph

In 1850s Poland-partitioned and oppressed-22-year-old Michael Rogala, a brilliant Sorbonne-educated idealist, dreams of Polish independence. His heart lies in education, his spirit in resistance. Torn between staying home to teach Polish children their language and history, or joining the fight against Russian imperialism, he eventually enlists in the Sultan Cossacks, a ragtag legion of Poles, Ukrainians, and others under Ottoman command. With him go five local recruits-into the chaos of the Crimean War.

At the same time, thirteen-year-old Val Karnowski, Rogala's brilliant but sensitive prot