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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780061240256
ISBN number: 0061240257
Label: William Morrow
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: April 01, 2008
Publishing house: William Morrow
Release Date: April 01, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 82506
Studio: William Morrow
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Alice Cole spent her very first seven years living in two smoky, crowded rooms in London with her family. But a new home and a better life waited in the colonies, or so her father promised—a bright dream that turned to ashes when her brothers and mother took ill and died during the arduous voyage. Arriving in New England unable to meet the added expenses incurred by their misfortunes at sea, her father bound Alice into servitude to pay his debts.
By the age of fifteen, Alice can barely remember the time when she was not a servant to John Morton and his daughter, Nabby. Though work fills her days, life with the Mortons is pleasant; Mr. Morton calls Alice his 'sweet, good girl,' and Nabby, only three years older, is her friend, companion, and now newly married, her mistress.
But Nabby's marriage is not happy, and soon Alice is caught up in its storm; seeing nothing ahead but her own destruction, she defies her new master and the law and runs away to Boston. There she meets a sympathetic widow named Lyddie Berry and her lawyer companion, Eben Freeman. Frightened and alone, Alice impulsively stows away on their ship to Satucket on Cape Cod, where the Widow Berry offers Alice a bed and a job making cloth in support of the new boycott of British wool and linen.
At Widow Berry's, Alice believes her old secret is safe, until it becomes threatened by a new one. As the days pass, the political and the personal stakes rise and intertwine, ultimately setting off a chain of events that will force Alice to question all she thought she knew. Bound by law, society, and her own heart, Alice soon discovers that freedom—as well as gratitude, friendship, trust, and love—has a price far higher than any she ever imagined.
Library Journal hailed Sally Gunning's previous novel, The Widow's War, as 'historical fiction at its best.' With Bound, this wonderfully talented writer returns to pre-Revolutionary New England and evokes a long-ago time filled with uncertainty, hardship, and promise.
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Rated by buyers 
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Historical fiction is really not my usual cup of tea. I like history and I like fiction, but usually do not care much when they are mixed together and between the same covers. This is a very popular genre though, and many, my wife included, enjoy reading this particular type of book a lot and in fact she absolutely consumes them. That, in essence, is why I read this one, i.e. my wife recommend that I do so. I do have a great interest in the study of slavery in this country and its complete history, and the indentured servant could indeed be classified as a slave by most of our standards of today. Ergo, I have done much reading regarding this institution over the years. Many of these people that found themselves caught up in this horrid situation did not have pleasant lives. Now we are talking about very young children here. In this story we have a seven year old girl caught up in a tragedy which was not all that uncommon at the time the story takes place.
This is the well written story of a young girl, who, through a set of tragic circumstances, was indentured by her father to pay his debts during pre-revolutionary war America. I must say that the author has done her research as evidenced by the fact that I am surrounded by academic history books and I failed to catch her in one error throughout the entire book. Actually, I must admit I tried, but to no avail.
As to the fiction part of the story; Sally Gunning is certainly a natural story teller and she had me hooked from page one. Her plot development was grand and the story I found was quite easy to follow. She developed the characters that needed to be developed to make it an interesting and fast paced story and lightened up on several of the peripheral characters that were more or less just clutter anyway. In this short of a novel, you cannot expect to get a five chapter expose on each and ever person that show up on its pages.
I felt the author nailed the attitudes and feelings of the various characters perfectly, in particular that of the chief protagonist, Alice. You have to put yourself into her day and time; understand the laws of the time, religion and attitude toward the female gender. If Alice acted a bit paranoid, well...she had a right to act that way. As to the question of forgiveness, keep in mind the mindset taught by the church of the time. You are what you are raised to be and are taught. You are a product of your civilization, and your expectations out of life pretty well follow what you have seen, heard and were taught. The reader must also keep in mind the physical and mental age of Alice when reading this work. It really comes together quite well and is quite logical. Again, keep in mind, that Alice was only seven when the story begins.
The author does use some odd techniques here and there and does actually change her style once or twice, which may throw some readers off course when they hit these changes. Hang in there though; it all makes sense in the end.
Is this a perfect novel? No, far from it. Is this a good read filled with neat little historical facts and observations of life styles during the mid 1770? Yes, and it is well done. For those many, many fans of historical fiction, I suspect you will enjoy this one. If you don't enjoy it, well it is a fast read and you will certainly be no worse the wear for reading it anyway. I just might be tempted to read further in this genre! I know I certainly enjoyed this one.
I do recommend this one.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
Rated by buyers 
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Good Night Lullabies
This a well written, historically interesting book. The characters are sympathetic and the story well plotted. It kept my interest throughout.
Rated by buyers -
Others have detailed the plot and characters, and I enjoyed this book for those aspects but even more for its sense of place and time. I have spent a great deal of time on Cape Cod, in the area described, since childhood, but I never knew much of the history of local people and the way of life in colonial times. This book paints a wonderful picture of people, work, mores, whaling, family life and I was so pleased to see that a former volunteer and husband, Steven Farrar, of our (Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary) former archivist, Judy Farrar, helped with the historical aspects of the book. If you love the Cape as I do, this book adds another dimension to your understanding of this unspoiled and wonderful place.
Rated by buyers -
This is a second really good read by Sally Gunning. I truly enjoyed the characters, her writing style and the history of a small whaling village on Cape Cod. "Bound" brings into the story the characters of Gunning's very first novel, "The Widows War". Both the "Bound" and "The Widows War" characters are strong and realistic. Both stories are well written. The characters are deep and their lives are steeped in the reality of the pre revolutionary war politics, societies lawful inequities for females, and pre war history. This is a great book club selection.I think Bound would be enjoyed best if it follows The Widows War.
Rated by buyers -
I picked up this book at my local (Cape Cod) library because it was about the area that I have lived in for most of my life. The librarian told me about the previous book, "The Widow's War". When I asked if I needed to read that very first she said I did not. I do feel now after reading "Bound" very first and then "The Widow's War" that it would be best to read them in order. They are both wonderfully written and books that I did not want to put down. I travel the same roads and locations every day that are in the books and now find myself looking for the "Widow Berry" and many of the other landmarks. Hope to meet the author at one of her local book signings.
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