"Multigenerational, sweeping across three continents...Inventive and absorbing alternate history." —Nancy Kress

The 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