For photos, excerpts, and more about “The Rebellion of Jane Clarke,” please visit our “Behind the Books” page >>>

The Rebellion of Jane Clarke

(An IndieNext “notable” book, A Read USA’s Top Five Historical Novels selection)

For generations, the Winslow and Clarke families of Satucket village on Cape Cod have been feuding over rights to the mill stream, but Jane Clarke has managed to stay removed from the fray. While she doesn't doubt her father's claims, she also doesn't harbor ill will towards the Winslows. Yet Jane cannot remain untouched after someone hacks the ears off Mr. Winslow's horse. Everyone in Satucket believes Jane's father is the culprit, but is her father the kind of man who could commit such a horrible act? Suddenly, Jane's long-held placidity is shattered and her trust shaken. Adding to her distress is Phinnie Paine, the suitor her father wishes her to marry. When Jane defies her father and refuses Paine's offer she is sent away to Boston to care for a troublesome aunt.

 Arriving in the bustling city awash with Redcoats and rebellious fervor, Jane discovers she cannot escape the conflicts defining her life. Father against daughter, Winslow against Clarke, loyalist against rebel—the battles are complicated by her seemingly unbalanced aunt, the unexpectedly kind British soldiers and the townspeople who taunt them, her friendship with bookseller Henry Knox, and her beloved brother, Nate, a law clerk working for John Adams, who alarms Jane by channeling his own frustrations into seditious acts.
When Jane witnesses British soldiers kill five colonists on a cold March evening in 1770, an event soon dubbed "The Boston Massacre" in the press, she is forced to question seeming truths, and with the support of her grandparents Lyddie and Eben Freeman, face up to one of the most difficult choices of her life.

Reviews for Rebellion of Jane Clark

"Gunning's blazing third historical takes readers into the heart of Revolutionary War-era Boston, where young Jane Clarke must come to terms with the importance of honesty over personal and political passions . . . Good historical fiction offers new perspectives on old stories. This book succeeds handily at the task."
— Publisher's Weekly Starred Review

"Gunning has chosen a turbulent and fascinating period in American history as the background to her story, and one that suggests interesting philosophical arguments . . . In Jane Clarke, we have a sensitive heroine, insightful enough to tussle with these difficulties."
— Washington Post

"[A] masterpiece of historical fiction."
— Patriot Ledger

"Gunning . . . paints period atmosphere in multiple shades of gray and exposes the realities behind the popular mythology of the American Revolution . . . A historical novel of integrity and substance, The Rebellion of Jane Clarke is a fitting showcase for a heroine of similar mettle."
— Reading the Past

The Rebellion of Jane Clarke - Behind the Books:  read more >>