CLOUDS OF DESTINY

by Ellen Davis ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 30, 1978

Red-white-and-blue clouds hang over the fortunes of smuggler James Devant--he's trying to play both sides against the middle in 1775 Connecticut. Moreover, his childhood love Sarah is now married to loyalist Charles Carrington, whose stern brother Edward is the head of the local rebel Committee of Correspondence. Likewise, the whole town of New Hereford is torn between sides in the coming wax, with families split and loyalists getting their houses burned down. Into this mess, for reasons of subplot only, comes pretty British whore Isohel Browne, who has stolen a state document (signed by King George and stating his intention to crush the rebels) from an elderly John whom she accidentally killed. Isobel's schemes (both with and against a clutch of pirates who are Devant's rivals) soon pall and take up an inordinate amount of time before she is finally murdered. Devant's love for Sarah, and her own determination to save her child and win safety, are somewhat more interesting, though Devant's gleam of patriotism in an eye otherwise fixed firmly on the main chance doesn't quite make it. ""His country. Yes, he would stay in it, fight for it, die for it if need be,"" etc. Bicentennial hoopla two years too late.

Pub Date: March 30, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1978

Categories: FICTION