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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
You will enjoy this book if you love Revolutionary War settings, spirited heroines, coastal New England, secret signals, and love stories in which the heart and the cause pull apart.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Dorothy runs toward the danger
- Brave hearts defend the home
- Marblehead makes resistance a shared duty
- A household secret threatens the cause
- Kindness crosses the enemy line
- Dorothy saves the cargo through deception
- Public resistance surrounds private hopes
- Dorothy cannot dismiss her own feelings
- Love and duty pull apart
Who’s who
- Dorothy DevereuxThe sixteen-year-old daughter of Joseph Devereux, bold, impulsive and loving, who longs to take part in the fight for her town.
- John DevereuxDorothy's older brother, a steady young patriot who loves Mary Broughton and helps smuggle arms for Marblehead.
- Mary BroughtonA fair, brave and prudent neighbor and Dorothy's closest friend, who wants the cause to succeed and her life with Jack to begin.
- Kyrle SouthornA young British cornet of dragoons, charming and determined, who falls in love with Dorothy after meeting her at the cave.
- Hugh KnollysJack's honest, cheerful friend, who fights for the cause and keeps a quiet love for Dorothy to himself.
- Joseph DevereuxThe courteous, lame old head of the family, who holds to his word and his cause and dotes on his daughter.
- Johnnie StringsA wiry peddler with a white horse named Lavinia Amelia, who knows every road and secretly serves the patriots.
- Aunt PenineJoseph's sharp sister-in-law, who runs the dairy, loves her tea and leans toward the King's side.
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From Kingdom to Colony in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
From Kingdom to Colony
by Mary Devereux · 1900
A girl in her brother's old clothes sends signal lanterns flying into the sea to save a cargo of gunpowder.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”
In short
What would you do if the lanterns guiding a smuggled cargo of gunpowder were about to fall into enemy hands? In From Kingdom to Colony, seventeen-year-old Dorothy Devereux does not stop to think.
From Kingdom to Colony at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 5 min4 h 50 min fast, 7 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 86,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1900by Mary Devereux
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A pirate raid founds the family legend
The book begins with a prologue set long before the Revolution. On a May afternoon in 1639, young John Devereux and his bride Anne prepare to sail for New England. John promises that their new home is rough but safe. She answers that she has no fear while he is with her. That answer returns at the very end of the book.
Ten years later Anne is a sturdy mother of three boys in the stone house at Marblehead. Her friend Joane, the wild daughter of Ahawayet, slips in one night to warn of a strange ship in the harbor. Pirates attack. Joane climbs to the roof and fires a blunderbuss into the raiders, wounding their captain and ending such raids for good.
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Details
- First published
- 1900
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Devereux, Mary. From Kingdom to Colony. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/from-kingdom-to-colony.
Devereux, M. (2026). From kingdom to colony. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/from-kingdom-to-colony (Original work published 1900)
Devereux, Mary. From Kingdom to Colony. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/from-kingdom-to-colony.
@book{devereux2026from,
author = {Devereux, Mary},
title = {From Kingdom to Colony},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/from-kingdom-to-colony},
note = {First published 1900}
}
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What is From Kingdom to Colony about?
It is a Revolutionary War romance set in Marblehead, Massachusetts, from 1774 on. It follows the Devereux family and their neighbors as British soldiers camp in town, arms are smuggled ashore, and a young woman falls in love with an English officer.
Who is Dorothy Devereux?
Dorothy is the high-spirited sixteen-year-old daughter of Joseph Devereux. She is her father's favorite and her brother Jack's little sister. She is brave, quick and impulsive, and her actions drive the story.
Is From Kingdom to Colony a true story?
The book combines its family romance with a real setting, historical events and historical figures. The book uses actual events such as the Port Bill, the press gangs, the Provincial Congress, and real names like Glover, Gerry and Lee. Mary Devereux wrote it as a tribute to her town.
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.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”
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