In 1776, 15-year old Frannie finds the body of a young girl
who died in a shipwreck and jumps at the chance to escape her home of Grand
Bahama Island and the unwanted advances of her step-father. She dons the dead girl’s clothes, boards a ship
heading to America, and assumes the girl’s identity. She must transform herself
from a rough island girl to a young society woman in order to survive.
As much as I have enjoyed Veronica Rossi’s previous novels,
Rebel Spy was a disappointment. Her
previous novels were young adult fantasy while this one was historical
fiction. I felt the story idea was good
but the way the characters acted did not feel authentic to the 1700s. Rather,
they were too modern in their behaviors and actions. I suppose it all could have happened but
Rossi did not succeed in making me believe it.
I enjoyed the main characters and admired Frannie’s spunk
most of the time. But the novel
generally fell flat since it never felt real. Even the book cover did not look
authentic for the time period. In
addition to the story simply not feeling right, it took several completely
unbelievable turns including the way that she was inexplicably found three
times in the last half of the story.
Ridiculous.
Therefore, even though Rossi’s great adventure writing was
evident at times, this novel never swept me away and made me shake my head and
roll my eyes too many times.
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