It is the summer of 1770 in Westchester County, New York, but this is a region with divided loyalties. When the Hessians march though and torch the village of Bedford in a wanton act of war, one family is particularly devastated. The mother dies after childbirth and the father is put into a British prison. The thirteen-year-old daughter is left to cope as best she can to keep a damaged roof over her head, and provide for herself and her scrappy, younger brother.

Despite working at cross purposes and the usual sibling hostilities, they ultimately cooperate to rebuild a portion of their home--all the while waiting hopefully for their father's release. This story expresses more than the toll of war upon their peaceful life, for the author describes the importance of friendship and trust, the danger of juvenile espionage, and the disruption of Puritannical neighbors filled with self-righteous zeal to destroy the family from the core.

This book was of particular interest to me, for I grew up in the next village, yet I never realized that the citizenry had suffered so brutally. Nor that my home county was considered neutral during the American revolution--with some families supporting King George, (as in the Collier brothers" My Brother Sam is Dead.) Author Fran Duncombe was also living and writing locally. An exciting tale which will introduce many young readers to the horror of Revolution and the hardship of the colonial lifestyle. We owe our ancestors a great debt of gratitude.