The Pretender — Deborah Hill

Boston, 1765. Unrest is in the air. A new tax has been imposed without colonial consent or representation. An underground resistance movement led by Sam Adams is picking up momentum. But Elizabeth Durham is too troubled to care. She believes she has killed a man. If he is dead, he deserves it, for he has violated her - but she dare not wait to find out. Instead, she will hide in the new world and find work there. Squire John Rawlings, a Boston merchant, helps by taking her to his native village, hoping she will be able to teach at the town's school. On the day of their arrival, they find a crowd waiting to watch a public flogging. The culprit is Squire John's youngest brother, Benjamin, who has been caught in the act of fornication with a married woman. When she sees him, Elizabeth is stunned. Handsome, utterly unrepentant, Ben Rawlings waits fearlessly for his punishment to begin. As he looks out over the crowd, his eyes meet hers and there is a quickening deep, deep within her. And so it begins. But Ben is gone when Elizabeth discovers herself pregnant, without leaving word about when he will come back. She marries Squire John whose spotless reputation will shield her and the unborn child. In exchange for his protection she will pretend to be an aristocrat so that he will be recognized and rewarded by the Boston Royalists. Opposing them are the Sons of Liberty, among whom, unknown to him, his brother Ben is a major force. When a new tax is devised by Parliament, collected by corrupt commissioners, enforced by a warship, and then by His Majesty's army, the colonists are in turmoil. The Royalists struggle to prevail against them; Sam Adams and his group continue to undermine their power, and Elizabeth is caught in the middle. Between politics and the threat of war and the law itself, she and Ben Rawlings are hopelessly star crossed. But not defeated.