As his pa lies dying, Timothy Michael O'Hara, 12, promises he will leave the Allegheny Mountains he loves, and head east to find his appointed guardians. Wise in the ways of the mountains and survival, Tim begins his journey of self-discovery and manhood, vowing to fulfill his pa's wishes. Even so, he doesn't like them. He doesn't know what he wants most in the world; he just knows that going east isn't it. Tim avoids two known thieves in the Allegheny, only to be kidnapped by these same thieves and their bond-slaver partners in the Shenandoah Valley. If he can't escape, he will spend the next 15 years in bondage, and what he has discovered about himself, and what he wants for his future, won't matter one whit. Down from the Mountains is an historical adventure novel for the Middle Grade readers, set in the fall and winter of 1774-1775, just after the beginning of the Revolutionary War in faraway Massachusetts.