"Collie's Captivity in The Monarchy of The Kingdom's Realm" is the first in a series of "Collie in The Realm" books for teenagers and young adults.
In "Collie's Captivity....", an American teenage girl is being held captive in a foreign land! Fifteen-year-old international student Colleen Lee Knight (known by her nickname of "Collie" to her family and friends), is arrested on suspicion of spying for an enemy nation and jailed in conditions no teenage girl should ever have to face.... After her arrest, the young American is booked into jail, strip searched by female soldiers of The Realm, and scheduled for immediate trial on capital charges of spying. Should Collie be found guilty by the Grand Council of The Realm of spying, then she'll certainly face the death penalty. The horror of her situation and the cruel and harsh treatment she's forced to endure threaten both her physical and mental health. Evidence against her has been carefully prepared by America's enemies to ensure her conviction and death sentence. Since tears are considered a sign of weakness in The Realm, Collie tries to be as brave as she can while defending herself at trial. She attempts to remain calm as she addresses those who will determine her fate, and forcefully declares her innocence --- pleading that the Council treat her mercifully by allowing her to return to her childhood home in America and sleep in her own bed, and in return she promises never to travel to The Realm to bother them ever again. While some Council members appear moved by her emotional plea, others find her entire defense unconvincing and it becomes increasingly evident that the final vote of the Council will be too close to call in the case of Colleen Lee "Collie" Knight, accused American teenage girl spy.
Will Collie be able to convince a majority of the Grand Council members of her innocence? If she fails, will her family, friends, and American President Virginia Watker be able to save this young American teenage cheerleader from being shot as a spy by The Realm's military firing squad? If not, Collie must continue to suffer freezing cold in her drab and filthy cell, starvation, and relentless abuse from The Realm officer who seems determined to break down her strength and courage long before the day arrives when she'll be forced to stand before her executioners tearfully trembling with fear while trying to decide if she'll accept or reject their offer of the blindfold seconds before they fire their rifles directly at her wildly beating heart.
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There are those in The Realm who are kind and caring, and they do what they can to ease young Collie's suffering in her time of need during her captivity. Should the American teenage student be found innocent of spying, then she'll be swiftly deported back to the USA for her crime of trespassing on Palace grounds and exiled for the rest of her life from ever returning to The Realm. However, should she be found guilty of spying and taking a photograph of military hardware to sell to a nation hostile to The Realm, then Collie will be condemned to a painless death before the year has ended. Her executioners will ensure that she is granted a merciful death because the vast majority of Realm subjects have no desire to subject their prisoners to mental or physical torture or cause condemned prisoners in their custody to suffer needlessly. Those of The Realm who have come to care for her, and there are many, will do all they can to help Collie face her death with courage and dignity, and they'll expect her to stand before the firing squad fearlessly with her eyes uncovered and look the members of the firing squad directly in their eyes as they level their rifles to point straight towards her heart. Although many subjects of The Realm believe America on the verge of collapse and Americans to be a weak people living in a nation fading into the pages of history, most of them are willing to give Collie an opportunity to demonstrate her courage during what may possibly be her final months on earth. As she says her prayers each night before laying down to sleep, Collie wonders if she'll ever be found innocent and granted her freedom, or if she'll have to remain caged until her captors find her guilty, and then come to take her from her cell and lead her to the execution chamber to have her death sentence carried out by their military firing squad. Collie knows that all those of The Realm who have come to love her and care about her will expect that she die bravely if she's found guilty of spying, and she wonders as she confronts the very real possibility of her own death at age fifteen if she'll have the courage to face her executioners without breaking down in tears and begging on her knees that they spare her life and set her free....
"Collie's Captivity in The Monarchy of The Kingdom's Realm" (the first book in the "Collie in The Realm" series) is now available at online booksellers, libraries, and at fine bookstores everywhere.
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