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Rebellion 1776
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Boston, March 1776. Thirteen-year-old Elsbeth Culpepper wakes beneath the bombardment that precedes the British evacuation of the city. Her father has disappeared, employment is precarious and the political loyalties of employers, sailors and neighbours are difficult to read. After leaving a Loyalist household, Elsbeth finds work with the wealthy Pike family and becomes companion and servant to Hannah Sparhawk.
The military siege gives way to another emergency when smallpox spreads through Boston and crowds seek the dangerous protection of inoculation. Because Elsbeth survived the disease as a child, she can nurse the Pike household, but immunity does not protect her from class hierarchy, family secrets or suspicion of espionage. The novel joins the founding conflict to the history of epidemic control, showing revolution through the work and limited choices of girls and servants.
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