10 h 49 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens to love when loyalty to a king clashes with the call for liberty?
In From Kingdom to Colony, Mary Devereux places a love story against the American Revolution. The colonies stand at a turning point, and allegiance reaches beyond politics into private life. Loyalty to the British Crown, to family, and to neighbors pulls against a new idea of liberty. Personal feeling meets the demands of public duty.
This historical romance explores a world where Patriots and Loyalists can belong to the same household or circle of friends. War puts pressure on courtship, while the larger struggle turns subjects into citizens and colonies into states. The question is not only where people stand, but what their loyalties ask them to risk.
What you’ll discover
- Love under pressure Follow a romance shaped by the strain of war and the demands of loyalty.
- A divided world Enter a setting where allegiance to the Crown competes with the promise of liberty.
- The claims of family Explore how public conflict reaches into the bonds between relatives, friends, and neighbors.
- Private feeling, public duty Consider what happens when the heart and a sense of obligation pull apart.
- A nation taking shape See personal drama set against the Revolution's change from royal subjects to citizens.
Who will love it
Readers who like historical romance, colonial New England and the sea, brave girls with a sharp wit, and love stories set against real events such as the Boston Port Bill and the first shots at Lexington.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A pirate night starts the family story
- Marblehead stands at the edge of war
- A spy sits in the Devereux household
- A redcoat finds the cave
- The night of the lanterns
- Two men love one girl
- A wedding night and a dark ride
- Loyalty, love and the cost of choosing
- A story told with the sea and the past
Who’s who
- Dorothy DevereuxThe sixteen-year-old daughter of Joseph Devereux, impulsive, brave and loving, who wants to help her brother and cause but cannot control her own heart.
- John DevereuxJack, Dorothy's older brother, a serious young patriot who loves Mary Broughton and means to protect his family and his town.
- Mary BroughtonFair, prudent and fearless daughter of a Marblehead merchant, Dorothy's closest friend, who loves Jack and holds firm views on redcoats.
- Kyrle SouthornA young British dragoon cornet with sea-blue eyes and a reckless streak, who falls in love with Dorothy and will do almost anything to win her.
- Hugh KnollysJack's cheerful and loyal friend, a sturdy patriot who has loved Dorothy since childhood and tries to hide it.
- Johnnie StringsA wiry peddler with a drawl and a sharp eye, who carries news along the coast and serves the patriot cause in secret.
- Joseph DevereuxDorothy's elderly father, a courteous, honorable gentleman who loves his country and his daughter and hates secrets in his own house.
- Aunt PenineJoseph's sharp-tongued sister-in-law, who runs the dairy, drinks forbidden tea and sides with the King, hoping for a marriage that will raise her.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 10 h 49 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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From Kingdom to Colony
by Mary Devereux · 1900
In 1774 Marblehead, a girl in boy's clothes hurls signal lanterns into the sea to save a hidden shipment of guns.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
From Kingdom to Colony is a Revolutionary War romance by Mary Devereux, who died in 1914. She dedicates it to her father and sets it in her own family country, the fishing town of Marblehead, Massachusetts.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A pirate night starts the family story
The book opens with a prologue that sets the family's roots. Robert D'Evreux crosses to England with William of Normandy in 1066, and his name goes on the roll hung in Battle Abbey. The story then jumps to a May evening in 1639 at Bromwich Castle in Warwick, a vine-covered fortress with a dry moat full of cowslips and violets.
Sir Walter Devereux comes home from a deer hunt with his three sons. The youngest, John, is quiet and thoughtful, and his seventeen-year-old wife Anne sits at a window with an illustrated book about the land across the ocean. A picture of a painted Indian chief frightens her. John soothes her, promising that where they will live, the home is rough but safe, and that they will found a new branch of the family there.
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What is From Kingdom to Colony about?
It is a Revolutionary War romance set in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1774 and 1775. A spirited girl, Dorothy Devereux, helps her family hide guns from the British while falling for a young redcoat officer.
Is From Kingdom to Colony based on a true story?
The Devereux family and the romance are invented, but the setting is real. The Port Bill, the redcoats on the Neck, the Cat Island hospital fire, Elbridge Gerry and John Glover all come from the town's history.
Who is Moll Pitcher in the novel?
Moll Pitcher is a fortune-teller from Lynn who visits her father in Marblehead. She tells Dorothy and Mary about a black cloud of war and a scarlet fate, and her words shape how Dorothy sees her own life.
The author
Mary Devereux
1852–1914 · American novelist
Mary Devereux was an American novelist who lived from 1852 to 1914. She wrote From Kingdom to Colony, published in 1899. Her other novels included Up and Down the Sands of Gold, published in 1900, and Lafitte of Louisiana, published in 1902.
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