"Multigenerational, sweeping across three continents...Inventive and absorbing alternate history." -Nancy KressThe date is 1854. The place is the Australian goldfields in the British colony of Victoria-the richest prize on earth. The story begins with a stockade. The flag of independence is unfurled. Men driven beyond endurance take arms against British redcoats. At their forefront are two hundred Colt-wielding Americans, the California Rangers, led by the charismatic and idealistic Captain James McGill.The stockade falls. The Rangers are scattered. But from the ashes will rise a new revolution-a revolution powered by the sun. And this one will not fail.In the 19th century, just how close did we come to a world run on solar power? The Five Star Republic is history with a twist, the story of a world that might easily have been-the future you'll wish we'd had."Original and enthralling...an alternate history imbued with hope and promise." -Pamela Sargent