compass_rose's review against another edition
4.0
Really enjoyed this and now want to reread her first two (The three share a common location and some characters make cameo appearances). I recommend all three to those looking for a quick historical novel with interesting characters and strong women. I would also recommend this for bookclubs.
danahuff's review against another edition
4.0
sittingwishingreading's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
apetruce's review against another edition
2.0
I guess my Colonial women phase is over. This one killed it.
exlibrisbitsy's review against another edition
4.0
This historical novel takes place on the eve of the American Revolution. Jane is a young woman who lives in a world that is more in flux than she realizes. Families are facing off against families, revolutionaries against loyalists and even father against daughter as Jane questions her father’s beliefs and actions and ultimately decides to not marry the man he has picked out for her.
This results in her being sent to Boston to care for a sick aunt. While there she realizes things are not quite how they appear in the papers. The story unfolds as Jane rejects how other people tell her how she should think about and feel about the political climate at the time and determines that she will come to her own conclusions.
Because Jane is not falling along party lines in a traditional manner it allows the reader to see things as they truly were in the Colonial era and that includes some of the hypocrisy and imperfect deeds on both sides of the coming war. A lot of the stereotypes and generalizations are discarded for true historical accuracy. The revolution was not perfect. Neither were our fore fathers. It's a little ridiculous to think that it all was perfect. This book embraces that and yet still gives a great deal of respect and weight to the reasons we went forward with the revolution anyway, warts and all. I appreciated this honesty.
I also loved how the author wrote the book so that the story arc of this one young woman and her personal rebellion and search for truth in the midst of the much greater rebellion going on around her worked so well as an analogy to everything that was happening in the country at that time. Jane was a wonderful, strong character to read about and I was impressed by her determination and fortitude as she stood up for what she believed in throughout even when her number of supporters started to dwindle by the end.
I did find it a little hard to get into the story at first, but by the half way point I was hooked and pulled right through to the end. Fans of historical novels will enjoy this book immensely.
I received this book for free to review.
This results in her being sent to Boston to care for a sick aunt. While there she realizes things are not quite how they appear in the papers. The story unfolds as Jane rejects how other people tell her how she should think about and feel about the political climate at the time and determines that she will come to her own conclusions.
Because Jane is not falling along party lines in a traditional manner it allows the reader to see things as they truly were in the Colonial era and that includes some of the hypocrisy and imperfect deeds on both sides of the coming war. A lot of the stereotypes and generalizations are discarded for true historical accuracy. The revolution was not perfect. Neither were our fore fathers. It's a little ridiculous to think that it all was perfect. This book embraces that and yet still gives a great deal of respect and weight to the reasons we went forward with the revolution anyway, warts and all. I appreciated this honesty.
I also loved how the author wrote the book so that the story arc of this one young woman and her personal rebellion and search for truth in the midst of the much greater rebellion going on around her worked so well as an analogy to everything that was happening in the country at that time. Jane was a wonderful, strong character to read about and I was impressed by her determination and fortitude as she stood up for what she believed in throughout even when her number of supporters started to dwindle by the end.
I did find it a little hard to get into the story at first, but by the half way point I was hooked and pulled right through to the end. Fans of historical novels will enjoy this book immensely.
I received this book for free to review.
rachel_abby_reads's review against another edition
2.0
Set in the days prior to the American Revolution, this is the story of (duh) Jane Clarke. Jane is no one particularly remarkable or famous,but she meets John Adams, Otis, and Henry Knox, and her brother was shot (though not killed) during the Boston Massacre. Jane develops no particular feelings about revolution one way or the other. In fact, the large part of her thought process revolves on her relationship with a domineering father, and the man Dad wants her to marry, Phinnie Paine.
This wasn't a particularly difficult read, although the sexual morality isn't what I would have expected. (This isn't a porn masquerading as historical fiction; Jane gets into non-descriptive heavy petting with Knox and Paine.) Jane/the author seemed quite sympathetic to the British soldiers, although it may just feel that way because the author treats history with more accuracy: after all, citizens of Boston were quite provocative to the soldiers. I think the thing that made it feel the most real is the regular life being lived in extraordinary times. The colonies are ramping up for revolution, Jane meets several key players in the founding the the new republic, and she is most keenly concerned with family relationships and the question of marriage.
This wasn't a particularly difficult read, although the sexual morality isn't what I would have expected. (This isn't a porn masquerading as historical fiction; Jane gets into non-descriptive heavy petting with Knox and Paine.) Jane/the author seemed quite sympathetic to the British soldiers, although it may just feel that way because the author treats history with more accuracy: after all, citizens of Boston were quite provocative to the soldiers. I think the thing that made it feel the most real is the regular life being lived in extraordinary times. The colonies are ramping up for revolution, Jane meets several key players in the founding the the new republic, and she is most keenly concerned with family relationships and the question of marriage.
emceereads's review against another edition
4.0
Really 3.5 stars. I didn't realize this was the third book in a series... my mother picked this up for me, I think at a book shop in Mystic, CT or possibly in Rhode Island. As many other reviewers have said, this starts very slow, almost painfully slow. I found Jane to be passive most of the time, which was frustrating, but I think that silent conflict she felt must have been felt by many women of that time. This is a small-town girl who had been taught that being a daughter (seen in her relationship with her controlling father), a mother (Mehitable vs. her grandmother), and a woman (seen in the perceptions Aunt Gill, Henry, Phinnie, and Nate had of Jane) meant to show obedience and servitude to the men around her. The contrast between her growth and the Boston Massacre demonstrates that passive vs. passionate rebellion concept. Overall, not a bad piece of historical fiction once you get going.
rachelgertrude's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this character, both in her quiet strength of spirit and in the realistic way the author reveals her. The first interesting thing I read about Jane was that she had a "bubble in her chest" that indicated she felt disturbed by the contents of a letter she had received. Before knowing who she is, the context of the letter, or anything about the story, I knew that Jane was responding viscerally to something and taking the time to find out why.
And this is how the story is laid out - events are described, and Jane reflects on them and her reaction to them. as a reader, you participate in the mysterious nature of her colonial world, unraveling the intricacies of the characters around her, discerning. Jane hears something she trusts, but her gut responds with a twinge of warning or doubt - she comes to a conclusion about what her gut is telling her, and we find out over time if she was wrong or right.
In some ways, Jane Clarke is like an Elizabeth Bennet with the personality of a Jane Bennett, and the book, in its journey of self-discovery and development, is somewhat similar to Pride and Prejudice as well. Other interesting characters, such as Lydia and Eben Freeman, were intriguing enough in themselves to inspire me to find Gunning's earlier books, The Widow's War and Bound.
And this is how the story is laid out - events are described, and Jane reflects on them and her reaction to them. as a reader, you participate in the mysterious nature of her colonial world, unraveling the intricacies of the characters around her, discerning. Jane hears something she trusts, but her gut responds with a twinge of warning or doubt - she comes to a conclusion about what her gut is telling her, and we find out over time if she was wrong or right.
In some ways, Jane Clarke is like an Elizabeth Bennet with the personality of a Jane Bennett, and the book, in its journey of self-discovery and development, is somewhat similar to Pride and Prejudice as well. Other interesting characters, such as Lydia and Eben Freeman, were intriguing enough in themselves to inspire me to find Gunning's earlier books, The Widow's War and Bound.
curly_hair_grace's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
littleladyluna's review against another edition
4.0
Jane Clarke has lived her entire life in the small, seaside town of Satucket on Cape Cod. She helps her stepmother around the house and has begun to learn nursing skills from an elderly woman in the town, she always does exactly what is expected of her and never questions her father. Her family has been involved in a feud with the Winslow family for years and Jane has always taken her father's side; but when Mr. Winslow's horse has its ears cut off and Jane's father is blamed, a small seed of doubt is placed in Jane's mind. That small doubt seems to affect her tremendously and she even refuses Phinnie Paine, a suitor Jane's father has already approved of. When she refuses to marry Phinnie, her father banishes her to Boston to care for an ailing aunt, even though he is aware of the rising conflicts between the townspeople and the British soldiers stationed there. After reading about several accounts in the newspaper of the British cruelty toward the Bostoners, Jane is afraid to leave her aunt's house after arriving in town. Her aunt sends her on an errand one day and Jane quickly sees the tension between the soldiers and townspeople, but realizes that not all can be blamed on the soldiers. The longer Jane stays in Boston, the more she sees that both sides are to blame and when she witnesses what we now know as "The Boston Massacre," she has to decide whether to tell the truth of what she has seen or remain silent.
I remember learning about the Boston Massacre in school and how it changed the tide and lit the fire for the American Revolution. However, nothing I read in my textbooks really helped me to understand what it was like in Boston during this time. In The Rebellion of Jane Clarke, Gunning does an amazing job of showing how even though the lines were drawn, the conflict between the British and Americans was not black and white and that it is hard to lay the blame at one political side's door. Jane witnesses the soldiers being taunted and harrassed in the streets and several incidents that culminate in the idea that the town is split in two. This novel has made the Boston Massacre very real for me and helped me to understand the feelings of this era. Although the book was a bit slow moving in parts, it kept my interest the entire time and I was caught up in the drama unfolding in Boston as well as the small dramas in Jane's life. Jane was a very well written character and I enjoyed watching as she threw off the conventions of the time and made her own way. I finished this book several hours ago, and though I have started another book, I can't get the events and characters from this novel out of my mind. Overall, I thought this was a great read.
I remember learning about the Boston Massacre in school and how it changed the tide and lit the fire for the American Revolution. However, nothing I read in my textbooks really helped me to understand what it was like in Boston during this time. In The Rebellion of Jane Clarke, Gunning does an amazing job of showing how even though the lines were drawn, the conflict between the British and Americans was not black and white and that it is hard to lay the blame at one political side's door. Jane witnesses the soldiers being taunted and harrassed in the streets and several incidents that culminate in the idea that the town is split in two. This novel has made the Boston Massacre very real for me and helped me to understand the feelings of this era. Although the book was a bit slow moving in parts, it kept my interest the entire time and I was caught up in the drama unfolding in Boston as well as the small dramas in Jane's life. Jane was a very well written character and I enjoyed watching as she threw off the conventions of the time and made her own way. I finished this book several hours ago, and though I have started another book, I can't get the events and characters from this novel out of my mind. Overall, I thought this was a great read.