The Rebellion of Jane Clarke
For generations, the Winslow and Clarke families of Satucket village on Cape Cod have been feuding over rights to the mill stream, but Jane Clarke has managed to stay removed from the fray. While she doesn’t doubt her father’s claims, she also doesn’t harbor ill will towards the Winslows. Yet Jane cannot remain untouched after someone hacks the ears off Mr. Winslow’s horse. Everyone in Satucket believes Jane’s father is the culprit, but is her father the kind of man who could commit such a horrible act? Suddenly, Jane’s long-held placidity is shattered and her trust shaken. Adding to her distress is Phinnie Paine, the suitor her father wishes her to marry. When Jane defies her father and refuses Paine’s offer she is sent away to Boston to care for a troublesome aunt.
Arriving in the bustling city awash with Redcoats and rebellious fervor, Jane discovers she cannot escape the conflicts defining her life. Father against daughter, Winslow against Clarke, loyalist against rebel—the battles are complicated by her seemingly unbalanced aunt, the unexpectedly kind British soldiers and the townspeople who taunt them, her friendship with bookseller Henry Knox, and her beloved brother, Nate, a law clerk working for John Adams, who alarms Jane by channeling his own frustrations into seditious acts.
When Jane witnesses British soldiers kill five colonists on a cold March evening in 1770, an event soon dubbed “The Boston Massacre” in the press, she is forced to question seeming truths, and with the support of her grandparents Lyddie and Eben Freeman, face up to one of the most difficult choices of her life.
The Rebellion of Jane Clarke by Sally Gunning
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Well, I have to admit that at the beginning of this book, I was not too impressed. I was rather bored. The only thing that kept me going was my love for history. I was not interested in what happened to the characters, and in general, it was just an okay story. I planned on giving it a 3-star rating.
More than halfway into it, I will admit that the author finally threw in some twists and turns that began to intrigue me. I began to see just how strong the protagonist was. I at least was inspired to keep reading. And the history was still fascinating.\
A few nights ago, the author threw in a very unexpected turn–I was more than 2/3 of the way done–and I was suddenly quite intrigued. The author actually had me on the edge of my seat. And the ending was quite simple yet powerful.
My complaint with the book is that I wish the author had written the entire book in the same gripping manner in which she wrote the last one third. This is the second historical fiction book I have read in a row that has taken at least halfway through to grab my attention. I wonder if that is a problem with historical fiction. Maybe the person reasearches it well but struggles to weave that into the story.
I appreciated most the different take that the author placed on colonial history. I had never thought of the propoganda that was used on both sides of the conflict. That caught my attention and really made me think about how the colonists were not the blameless, helpless place by which they are ofen categorized. They did not behave as they should to win independence. I am happy they did it, but both sides were rather underhanded.
I give the book four stars because of its historical accuracy (the author cites several well-known sources) and the excitement of the last third of the book. If you are looking for a read that will make you think about our history and the Boston Massacre in a new light, this is the book for you.
A lifelong resident of New England, Sally Cabot Gunning has immersed herself in its history from a young age. She is the author of the critically acclaimed Satucket Novels: The Widow’s War, Bound, and The Rebellion of Jane Clarke, and writing as Sally Cabot, Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard. Her latest novel, Monticello: A Daughter and Her Father, was released in September 2016 to further acclaim. Gunning lives in Brewster, Massachusetts, with her husband, Tom, where her family history dates back three centuries. Elected fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and president of The Brewster Historical Society, she has helped to purchase and restore an 18th Century sea captain’s home and researches and presents historical tours of her village. She is currently having fun digging out more buried stories in preparation for her next novel.
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