Catharine Maria Sedgwick's epic tale of two families wrestling with questions of loyalty, liberty, and love during the American Revolution, with an introduction from New York Times bestselling author Margot Livesey.
At the dawn of the American Revolution, young Isabella Linwood is poised to marry a well-to-do English nobleman. Meanwhile her true love, Eliot Lee, has just joined George Washington's army. In this classic tale of two families torn apart by war, the loyalist Linwoods and revolutionary Lees must reckon with their beliefs and desires in a young republic still defining itself. Over the course of her conversion from proud Tory to ardent rebel, Isabella fosters a growing sense of independence, systematically questioning the institutions taken for granted all around her--from colonialism to slavery, patriarchy to aristocracy. Will her rebellious behavior free her from society's shackles, or only confirm the power of the status quo?
Catharine Maria Sedgwick was born to a prominent New England family in 1789 and went on to become one of the most celebrated novelists of her time. A proud patriot, Sedgwick chronicled the major social issues of early American society--slavery, religious freedom, women's rights, and the ongoing struggle between native and foreign forces--with a unique mix of radical and conservative perspectives. She died in 1867.
Margot Livesey is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Flight of Gemma Hardy, The House on Fortune Street, Banishing Verona, Eva Moves the Furniture, The Missing World, Criminals, and Homework. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Vogue, and the Atlantic, and she is the recipient of grants from both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. The House on Fortune Street won the 2009 L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award. Born in Scotland, Livesey currently lives in the Boston area and is a professor of fiction at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.