Daughter of Liberty

Eastertide, April 1775. In the blockaded port of Boston the conflict between the British Regulars and the Sons of Liberty rapidly escalates toward a fateful confrontation. Caught in the deepening rift that divides Whig and Tory, Elizabeth Howard is torn between her love for her prominent parents, who have strong ties to the British establishment, and her secret adherence to the cause of liberty. By night she plays a dangerous game as the infamous courier Oriole, hunted by the British for smuggling intelligence and munitions to the patriot leaders. And by day she treads increasingly perilous ground as she flirts ever more boldly with British officers close to her parents to gain access to information the rebels desperately need.

Elizabeth's assignment is to pin down the exact time the Redcoats will march to capture the patriots' hoarded munitions. But she hasn't counted on the arrival of Jonathan Carleton, an officer in the Seventeenth Light Dragoons. To her dismay, the attraction between them is immediate, powerful--and fought on both sides in a war of wits and words. When Carleton wins the assignment to ferret out Oriole, Elizabeth can no longer deny that he is her most dangerous foe--and the possessor of her heart.

As the first blood is spilled at Lexington and Concord, Carleton fights his own private battle of faith. Meanwhile, headstrong Elizabeth must learn to follow God's leading as her dangerous role thrusts her ever closer to the carnage of Bunker Hill.

"This is an exceptional book. I read the last 150 pages in one sitting. Heart racing, tears falling, I suffered the anguish and indecision that Elizabeth and Jonathan experienced. Hochstetler has created a magnificent, well-crafted story that will endure with the classics because she did not fall into the weak folly of so many modern writers--that of forcing today's values and ideas into a time in which they did not exist. To read Daughter of Liberty is to live in 1775 and to experience the spirit that made our country great. Read this book for pleasure, but don't be surprised when you receive an awesome history lesson that brings you an appreciation of the United States of America in a deep, new way." -Louise M. Gouge, author of Love Thine Enemy"

J. M. Hochstetler tells the story of Daughter of Liberty in a style I love. She takes fictional characters and sets them at critical moments in history to describe events through their eyes. Daughter of Liberty sets Elizabeth and Jonathan into the middle of the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. I now know more about those first battles of the American Revolution than I ever learned in history class. I've long believed that history in school should be taught through fiction. Instead, history is taught with the dry textbook style of memorizing dates, places, and names--something guaranteed to suck all the fun out of it. Great historical moments are always fraught with tension, life and death, heroism, sacrifice and passion. A novel can catch all of the natural drama while still delivering the facts. Daughter of Liberty is the first in a series of novels by Hochstetler about the Revolution. I can't wait for more." -Mary Connealy, author of the Montana Brides series

"Daughter of Liberty is the best historical novel I've read since I can't remember when. Real people and events are woven seamlessly into the story. The real events of 1775 Boston are integral to the plot and the actions of the characters, yet these details are so much a part of the characters' everyday life and goals that they don't stick out. It's the kind of historical novel I love to read and find too few to read. That it is Christian fiction makes it all that much better." -Laurie Alice Eakes, author of Better Than Gold