Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2008
320 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
Brought to New England and bound into servitude to pay her father's debts, Alice Cole, at fifteen, can barely remember the time when she was not a servant to John Morton. His daughter, Nabby—only three years older than Alice—begins as Alice's childhood companion, but when Nabby weds, she becomes Alice's mistress. But the marriage is not what it appears, and Alice, endangered by its storm, defies her new master and the law, and escapes to Boston. Impulsively stowing away on a ship to Satucket on Cape Cod, Alice believes that she has left her old life and her secrets behind. Yet in a time of unrest and uncertainty, as political and personal stakes rise and intertwine, she discovers that freedom, friendship, trust, and love each have a price far greater than she ever imagined.
"A well written, thought provoking mid-eighteenth century thriller." -- Midwest Book Review
"Heartrending ... Gunning’s vibrant portrayal shows that the pursuit of happiness is not for the faint of heart." -- Boston Globe
"[A] colonial page-turner...horrifying, spellbinding." - Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review. Historical fiction at its best." - Library Journal
"Skillfully employing the language, imagination and character that literary fiction demands, [Gunning] illuminates a fascinating moment in our past." - Washington Book World
"This book, eloquently written and exhaustively researched, is a warning along the lines of The Handmaid’s Tale, and just as necessary a read." - Feminist Review
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
I came to writing at a young age, driven to it in desperation one rainy day when I ran out of books; my main influences at the time being Dr. Seuss and parents who heartily subscribing to the puritan work ethic, my first effort was a poem about making my bed. I continued to tinker with poems and snippets through Winnie-the-Pooh and my brother's Hardy Boys books, but when I hit Salinger's Catcher in the Rye I knew that sooner or later I was going to have to try to write a book. It turned out to be later - after going to college and working as a chambermaid, a stewardess on a cruise ship, a tour guide in a Revolutionary War museum, and staff of one in an old-fashioned country doctor's office. But one day that doctor decided to do a novel thing - he decided to take a day off and he liked it ...
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