In 1775, fifteen year old Fanny Montresor, living with her stepmother Margaret in Westminster, New York, a town hostile to loyalists, is horrified to discover that her parents plan to marry her off to a stranger if war breaks out?and the local Whigs are planning a protest that could shatter the fragile peace. Fanny wrestles with her loyalty to the woman who saved her from certain death, and to her stepfather, the hated Tory Crean Brush, who whatever his faults has been a tender father to his adopted daughter. Fanny's attempt to head off violence is thwarted by Mother's rousing speech to the sheriff. The posse attacks the unarmed protesters, wounding several. The street soon seethes with furious militiamen eager for revenge. Against this terrifying backdrop, Fanny negotiates for what freedom she can find amid the crushing imperatives of family and political necessity.

Eight years later, widowed and masking her pain with a lively wit, Fanny returns with Margaret to Westminster, only to find that they share a lawyer with the Vermont revolutionary hero Ethan Allen, who hates Tories. But Fanny knows Allen well through his writings, which gives her an advantage when they finally meet. Their attraction seems mutual despite the political mismatch, but with one disastrous marriage behind her, Fanny is wary, and Allen seems to have reservations of his own. Hewing closely to historical facts and peopled with historical Vermont figures, this novel gives an up-close view of the Westminster Massacre, long known by Vermonters as the first bloodshed of the American Revolution. Approx. 300 pages