Rebecca's War

As General Lord Cornwallis watched his victorious British grenadiers march snappily into Philadelphia, he breathed a sigh of relief. It had been a tough campaign to seize control of America’s largest city, the city where only a few months before, the rabble had dared declare the colonies independent of Great Britain. But now victory was in sight for the King’s troops. In scattering the Americans over the countryside, Cornwallis thought he had solved the problem of Philadelphia. But there was one problem waiting for him in Philadelphia that he had not reckoned on—Rebecca Ransome.

Rebecca, 14 years old and a rebel to the core, did not welcome her British guests. Occupying her city was bad enough, but now they were occupying her house too. She had been left in charge of the family house as all the adults were fighting, and Rebecca must feed her small brother and sister in a hungry city.

The year is 1777, and Rebecca’s story takes place during the dreadful turning point winter of the war for independence. General Washington’s ragged and starving troops are camped at Valley Forge, while in Philadelphia, the King’s officers gamble and dance and hold theatrical amusements or lie wounded in private houses.

Billeted in Rebecca’s house are two enemy officers, one gambler and one patient. They have presented her with a brand new problem: can she keep the terrible and dangerous secrets entrusted to her now that she finds herself making friends with one of the enemy officers?

Suppose she worries frantically, the truth just pops out someday? Suppose she betrays family and country and cause because of the friendship? In an all out war what do you do when a friend wanders into your line of fire?

As in her earlier Red Coat in Boston, Finlayson has created striking characters in a historically accurate setting to bring this fast-paced, suspenseful tale of the American revolution to vivid life.