The Ledger at Sycamore Junction

About this book

In an alternate 1882 North America where a vast gravity-fed canal network has replaced failed transcontinental railways, twelve-year-old Silas Vance works as a junior toll-weigher at Oakhaven Dike. A resourceful but calculating boy, Silas routinely miscalibrates his scales to skim silver from wealthy merchants, hiding his actions within manipulated ledgers. When a severe summer drought strikes, Silas realizes his falsified water-flow records have caused the automated diversion gates to remain shut, threatening three downstream agricultural settlements with total crop collapse. Parallel chapters set in 1866 follow Silas's grandmother, Maeve, during the Great Dike Expansion. Facing a refugee crisis, Maeve altered her original drainage blueprints to prioritize immediate human safety over long-term hydraulic efficiency—a well-meaning compromise that created the systemic flaw Silas now exploits. To save the farming communities, Silas must navigate bureaucratic red tape, retrieve his grandmother's hidden drafting compass from a submerged municipal vault, and decipher her handwritten annotations. His journey forces him to evolve from a self-interested anti-hero to a civic-minded young man, culminating in a public confession and a high-stakes vote before the Regional Guild Council to implement an equitable water-sharing framework.

Book details

Genres:

Drama, Alternative History, Middle Grade Fiction

Language:

en

Published:

2026-05-07

Content rating:

G