Chains

missmunch - Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson is about a thirteen year old, Isabel and her younger sister Ruth. The story takes place in New York during the revolutionary war in America. Isabel and her sister are orphaned slaves for The Locktons. Rich and strong supporters of the King. Unsympathetic for the patriots and even less to Isabel and her sister. Isabel yearns for freedom and must break her strong "chains" of slavery. Isabel meets a boy named Curzon, a salve with connections with the patriots, offers her with he opportunity to spy on her owners for details about an expected British invasion. When Isabel's life changes she must decide where her loyalty lays and who can provide her freedom and help her break her "chains." I enjoyed this book and would recommend it for it's wonderful details!

Starred review from September 1, 2008
Pursuing similar themes as M.T. Anderson's Octavian Nothing
, this gripping novel offers readers a startlingly provocative view of the Revolutionary War. Isabel Finch, the narrator, and her five-year-old sister, Ruth, are to be freed from slavery upon the death of their mistress in Rhode Island, but the mistress's unscrupulous heir easily persuades the local pastor to dispense with reading the will. Before long Isabel and Ruth are in New York City, the property of a Loyalist couple, whose abusiveness inspires Isabel to a dangerous course: she steals into the Patriot army camp to trade a crucial Loyalist secret in exchange for passage to Rhode Island for herself and Ruth. But not only does the Patriot colonel fail to honor his promise, he personally hands her over to her Loyalist mistress when she runs away, to face disastrous consequences. Anderson (Speak
; Fever 1793
) packs so much detail into her evocation of wartime New York City that readers will see the turmoil and confusion of the times, and her solidly researched exploration of British and Patriot treatment of slaves during a war for freedom is nuanced and evenhanded, presented in service of a fast-moving, emotionally involving plot. Ages 10–up.