"Hester Prynne is an adulteress, and the bright red 'A' sewed on to her dress forever separates her from the other sad-colored inhabitants of her New England hometown. But no one else knows who the father of Hester's pixie-like child is-and that sordid mystery eats at the townspeople. Months stretch into years for the uncomplaining and dignified Hester, providing some of her begrudging neighbors with ample opportunity for prying, hypocrisy, contempt,...

Twelve-year-old Lydia finds herself in the middle of the tensions surrounding the Boston Massacre.

Sally Gifford, a Patriot shoemaker's daughter, tries to maintain her close friendship with Kitty Lawton, the daughter of a Loyalist official, as pre-Revolutionary War tensions in 1773 Boston increase and push them apart.

"Why did her friend receive a young female slave as a Christmas present? And why does Maggie's friend so mistreat the miserable girl? When the spiritual revival known as the Great Awakening comes to Boston, Maggie's tender heart is stirred - and she knows she must dare to help the slave, so far from her home in the West Indies. In her act of compassion, Maggie learns that we best serve God by serving others." - from back cover.

A former sailor with a troubled past, Ethan Kaille is a thieftaker, using conjuring skills to hunt down those who steal from the good citizens of Boston. And while chasing down miscreants in 1768 makes his life a perilous one, the simmering political tensions between loyalists like himself and rabble-rousing revolutionaries like Samuel Adams and others of his ilk are perhaps even more dangerous to his health.

Soon after Rachel Winslow returns to Boston to search for her soldier brother, Regina Silsby comes to the aid of the Patriot cause, this time with reinforcements.

In 1773, twelve-year-old Silence works to please her mother through household chores and weekly etiquette lessons in hopes of spending time with her beloved horse, Lily, while the men of Boston, including her Loyalist father and brother, discuss a possible war over taxation without representation.

Boston in 1773 is an inhospitable place for the two teenagers whose lives are about to intersect there.

When a smallpox epidemic strikes Boston in 1721, eleven-year-old Rob becomes the sole caregiver of his stepfather and brother during the time of their illness.