The Secret of Toni

What would you do to prove you're brave enough to be a soldier's son? In the sun-baked garrison towns of southern France, young Toni Marcel runs through cobblestone streets with his band of friends, dreaming of the day he can wear a uniform like his father. But Toni carries a secret, one that troubles his gentle mother and sets the whole town buzzing with speculation. Seawell captures something universal in this quiet portrait of boyhood: the desperate need to be seen as brave, the weight of a parent's worry, and the way small French streets become vast territories waiting to be conquered. Written in 1907 with genuine affection for its young protagonist, this novel remembers what it felt like to be young and certain the world was larger than it actually was.