Inspired by stories of evangelists who were part of the Protestant missionary movement of the nineteenth century, eight classmates from Union Theological Seminary applied to the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to accomplish missionary work abroad. Joseph Cochran, John Dulles, Edward Dodd, George Coan, Dwight Marsh, Justin Parsons, George Dunmore, and Samuel Rhea became the inner circle known as the brothers of the red velvet chapeaux and traveled to India, Asia Minor, and Persia to help spread the Word of God.

Author Kathryn McLane, the great-great granddaughter of Samuel Rhea, serves as the ghostwriter of a "fictionalized collective memoir" that shares the missionary lives of these young men and their self-denying labors in foreign lands. Their stories describe the perils they faced, such as marauding Kurds and Arabs, severe weather, disease, and persecution by the leaders of other religious sects as well as the strength they derived from their religious devotion and camaraderie.

As the author was drawn to and fascinated by the stories of these missionaries told through letters and reports published and archived in journals of the ABCFM (during a period spanning half a century from 1840 to 1890), so, too, will readers be drawn to the determined faith and endurance these men showed as they faced various struggles to ensure their missionary work reached those who needed it. To carry on the legacy of these brave men of God, prepare to be transported back in time as "fictionalized" dialogue brings to life the true documented events and stories in Brothers of the Red Velvet Chapeaux.

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