Before America (a historical fiction novel)

Before America

A Stranger at America’s Founding

Genre: Historical Fiction · Time Travel · Alternate History · Political Adventure

On July 4, 2026, as America celebrates its 250th anniversary, Roy Wu—a Chinese-American immigrant, engineer, data scientist, and elected official—attends the festivities in Washington, D.C. An extraordinary lightning event transports him to Massachusetts on April 18, 1775, just hours before the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Roy finds himself in a country that does not yet exist.

Armed with modern knowledge but lacking money, connections, or a credible identity, he must survive in colonial America. His unfamiliar appearance and mysterious background attract suspicion, while his engineering skills and ability to solve practical problems gradually earn him a place among revolutionary leaders.

Roy encounters George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. He contributes to military logistics, intelligence, public health, economic planning, and political negotiations. Along the way, he develops relationships with ordinary soldiers, Black Americans, Native communities, Chinese maritime travelers, and other people whose experiences complicate the familiar story of American independence.

At first, Roy believes his knowledge of history gives him an extraordinary advantage. He knows which battles will be won, which leaders will rise, and how the Revolution will end.

But every intervention has consequences.

Saving one life changes another person’s fate. Improving military decisions creates unexpected dangers. His growing influence attracts enemies who question his loyalty, identity, and right to advise America’s leaders.

As history begins to diverge from what he remembers, Roy faces increasingly difficult choices involving slavery, individual liberty, immigration, national unity, government power, and the compromises necessary to build a republic.

The Revolution eventually succeeds, but victory exposes new challenges: national debt, political division, weak institutions, public unrest, and competing visions of America’s future.

By 1787, Roy reaches the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where he faces his greatest opportunity—and his greatest dilemma.

He knows the America that emerged from the Constitution survived for 250 years. But after everything he has changed, that future may no longer exist.

Can Roy help create a better America without destroying the country that once gave him a home?

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