The Quick Cut: A girl in the 1770s takes on the identity of another woman and finds herself a key member of George Washington's Culper Spy ring in the process.
A Real Review: They say that history is written by the winners, but sometimes that written record is lacking in detail. Is there some part of your family history that remains a mystery? Or is there a part of your country's history that remains a mystery that intrigues you? In this historical fiction novel, Veronica Rossi brings some fictional detail to the history of number 355 in George Washington's Culper Spy Ring. Frannie Tasker is in an uncomfortable position living in her home of Grand Bahama Island. Her step-father is abusive and takes advantage of her talent for diving. So when Frannie gets an opportunity to take on another girl's identity, she takes advantage and gets on a boat to New York. However, stepping into another person's life is complicated and in the process, she sees what the war between Britain and the American colonies is all about. Can she take what she's absorbed in her new life and use it to turn the tides? Or will she get caught when the information she finds out gets used? Historical fiction is not one of my favorite subgenres because it's bungled many times when it is done. The balance between being true to what actually occurred and putting your own take on it is a complex process. In this case, I fell in love with this story so quickly that I finished it in an afternoon! The author was really smart about her subject here because so little is known about spy 355 and what we do know gives her so much to build a book around. She stayed true to what we know about the woman behind 355 while bringing a face to who she could have been. I was really surprised by how some of the secondary characters came back into the story and what role they play. One of the reasons that Frannie became a spy was due to Asa and seeing how his role changes over the story really made me question which side he truly stood for. Was he a rebel on the side of the American colonies or a loyalist in disguise? It was a question that only motivated me to keep reading. There's another character that plays this same role but to keep this review spoiler free, I will keep the name out of it. There is so much development between the secondary characters that its hard not to see how this could have truly played out in reality during that time. A novel that brings character to the story of Culper Spy 355. My rating: 5 out of 5