Bound by Sally Gunning

This was an interesting book and a quick read. The main character, Alice Cole arrives in Boston in 1756 having survived a harrowing journey from London, during which most of her family became ill and died. Her father, incurring debts on board ship that he could not repay was forced to indenture Alice to a merchant in Boston at the tender age of seven.

The book records Alice's travails as she grows up, some not so bad and some terrifying. How she deals with all the bumps in the road is pretty much the whole of the book but what I found of particular interest was the recording of daily life in Pre Revolutionary times in America. Even people who were not on the bottom rung of the economic ladder had a very hard life, filled with back breaking work. And they still had time to follow current events and stir up a Revolution.

The book peters out towards the end, almost as if the author didn't know how to bring things to a conclusion, but it's worth your while.

--Reviewed by Pauline Brady

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