Spark of the Revolution follows a young British woman named Patience who arrives in Colonial Boston in 1773, escorted by her brother William. Their mother has died, and Patience is eager to be reunited with her father, who has been living in Boston ever since an injury meant he was unable to continue making his livelihood at sea.
Patience is shocked to discover that her father has remarried already, and now she has a stepsister as well as a stepmother. She struggles especially much because she was hoping that she and her father could grow closer as they grieved for her mother and adjusted to their new life together, but now he has already moved on and seems to not be interested in getting to know her better.
Will finds work at a Boston printing office and makes friends with some young men who are secretly part of the Sons of Liberty organization leading the boycott of Britain's taxes on tea and so on. One of his new friends is Josiah, a blacksmith who catches Patience's eye as well. Josiah is struggling with his Christian faith and with loneliness. Will and Patience bring friendship and eventually love into his life, and Josiah grows and changes the most of anyone over the course of the book.
While there is a romance central to this book, the themes of sibling friendship and family love are basically just as strong as the romance, and I loved that. The historical details of pre-Revolutionary Boston are fantastic, and "seeing" the Boston Tea Party happen made me bounce with joy. The writing is fluid and enjoyable, and the characters are delightfully believable and real-feeling. I'm so glad there are two more books out in this series already, and a fourth coming before the end of the year!
Particularly Good Bits:
But it had been a decade since she'd spent more than a handful of months at a time in her father's company, and nearly three years since she had seen him at all. Not enough time to plant any new memories in the garden of her heart (p. 22).
The whole of Boston seemed poised and tense, like a barn cat crouching low and steady, barely twitching her tail before she pounced on her prey (p. 138).
"Each day is one the Lord has made, a gift from Him that we give back by living in obedience and trust. To know tomorrow is His place, not ours" (p. 185).
Mama would forever be a part of her, woven tightly into the fabric of Patience's life, and as time passed and the sharpness of the pain dulled, the joy of those memories grew and flourished (p. 295).
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some discussions of violence, though it is pretty well kept off-page. No cussing; no smut.
This has been my third book read from my #RevolutionaryWarReads list!
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