Rebel Spy by Veronica Rossi — Book Review

“Words have power. Learn them and that power becomes yours.”

Synopsis: A story of a young fifteen-year-old girl going from a loyalist wrecker to a rebel spy during the American Revolution war times, Francisca Tasker. In order to escape from the shackles of her wicked stepfather, Francisca decides to assume identity of another girl, Miss Emmeline Coates, who was found dead on the shoreline of West End. Soon captain comes looking for Miss Coates to take her to New York. On the ship, she meets Asa Lane, a rebel. Upon reaching New York, Miss Coates’ uncle takes her in and years pass by. Francisca learns about the propriety standards of the aristocratic society. During these years, she misses Asa and has an epiphany about being a rebel. She turns into a spy (code 355) to help with the war in her own way.

Note: code 355 was code associated with being a ‘lady’ spy.

Rating: 4/5

Review: This book has a dedication ‘For every 355’, one of the few dedications I loved. Considering the limited resources and information available, Veronica has brilliantly brewed up a mixture of facts and fiction in her work endeavoring to stay as close to the original facts as possible. Her work is beautiful and easy to get into.

During those war times, being a ‘Female Spy’ was frowned upon. Completely different from current opinion, exciting and praiseworthy, being portrayed in modern films. The book is intriguing from the first page and will keep one engaged throughout.

There is amazing character development when it comes to Francisca Tasker. From being a loyalist to a rebel, she transformed beautifully. She was a brave girl since the beginning, trying to survive in the world full of malignant human beings. Her drive to survive is her biggest motivation. The shift in her thought process after witnessing the atrocities committed by the British officers towards American rebel crossed all the decent human standards. She felt divided between attaining what her mother desired for her the most and what she really wanted. She knew how she could help American rebels, with her reach within the aristocratic society and lieutenants, she could easily gather information. This would give her a sense of purpose, which was more than anything else she wanted. She knew there were risks and unknown dangers, fear of being caught, this did not stop her from becoming a rebel.

On her journey as Miss Emmeline Coates, she falls in love with another rebel, Asa Latimer Lane. I have loved this character since the beginning and I sincerely shipped for this couple. They couldn’t be with anyone else. They both brought the truth in each other which is something they both lack in their other lives. They both have been living with suppressed thoughts and feelings about the war and government and the reasons for they are who they are. They found liberation in each other. I loved how till the end, in some way or the other, they both stood for each other.

Veronica smartly led the readers believe about few incidents being coincidences or serendipity but as the reader proceeds, realization strikes of things being connected.

However, book has many small cliff hangers here and there, many questions left unanswered, incidents leading to questions of how without any closure even towards the end. This could be because of the lack of the complete information available or because the author wanted to keep things more open ended for readers to form their assumptions and draw inferences making this a more compelling read.