Bound
Alice Cole spent her first seven years living in two smoky, crowded rooms in London with her family. But a new home and a better life waited in the colonies,or so her father promised--a bright dream that turned to ashes when her brothers and mother took ill and died during the arduous voyage. Arriving in New England unable to meet the added expenses incurred by their misfortunes at sea, her father bound Alice into servitude to pay his debts.
By the age of fifteen, Alice can barely remember the time when she was not servant to John Morton and his daughter, Nabby. Though work fills her days, life with the Mortons is pleasant; Mr. Morton calls Alice his "sweet, good girl," and Nabby, only three years older, is her friend, companion, and now newly married, her mistress.
But Nabby's marriage is not happy, and soon Alice is caught up in its storm; seeing nothing ahead but her own destruction, she defies her master and the law and runs away to Boston. There she meets a sympathetic widow named Lyddie Berry and her lawyer companion, Eben Freeman. Frightened and alone, Alice impulsively stows away on their ship to Satucket on Cape Cod, where the Widow Berry offers Alice a bed and a job making cloth in support of the new boycott of British goods. At Widow Berry's Alice believes her old secret is safe, until it becomes threatened by a new one.
As the days pass and the political and personal stakes rise and intertwine, they set off a chain of events that will force Alice to question all she thought she knew. Bound by law, society, and her own heart, Alice soon discovers that freedom--as well as gratitude, friendship, trust, and love--has a price far higher than any she ever imagined.
Reviews for Bound
"If The Widow's War identified Sally Gunning as a masterful new voice in historical fiction, Bound confirms her place as one of the very best in the field . . . Her Satucket novels are destined to become classics."
— Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Year of Wonders and March
“Beautifully done, and strongly recommended."
— Historical Novels Review - Editor's Choice
". . .Richly detailed and impeccably researched, the novel . . . grapple[s] with what it means to pursue personal freedom . . .The result is moving, compelling, and beautifully wrought; highly recommended for historical fiction collections."
— Library Journal
"In her novel of pitiless beauty, Bound, author Sally Gunning demonstrates again what she did in The Widow's War . . . Elegantly, she tells bitter truths —that dignity and grace and even abiding love can flourish where it seems nothing can grow."
—Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Still Summer
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