Life is very tough in the Wyoming Territory in 1885 -- and not just because of the brutal environment. Michael Purdy is an outcast in the small town of Rock Springs. At times bullied and bloodied and at other times ignored, Michael feels that he might as well be a ghost in this town of rough miners.

But life is even tougher for Joseph Young -- a Chinese American boy Michael's age. Despised by the American miners, the Chinese work for slave wages and in increasingly dangerous conditions. Born in America but never feeling he belongs, Joseph burns with the desire to be a "real American boy" -- a dream his father and the other Chinese laborers don't understand. To them, life in America is a constant struggle against poverty, deprivation, and hate. When the town's growing resentment toward the Chinese explodes in an event of horrifying cruelty, Michael and Joseph must trust each other with their lives.

Based on the actual events of one of the worst race riots in American history, The Traitor is a powerful, haunting, and ultimately hopeful story about a unique friendship strong enough to bring two worlds together.

Genre: Fiction (Childrens)