A Different Kind of Courage

A Different Kind of Courage by Sarah Holman.

Sarah was one of the first self published Authors I found after setting out on my own self publishing adventure. I was impressed when I found her blog as she already had three books published at the time. I devoured them, and enjoyed the series. Since then I kept an eye on all her future work, though none excited me as much as this book. The reason? Dr. Joseph Warren is in it, and he is one of my favourite Historical people. I can better explain this by saying when my teacher in history class talked about his death I nearly cried.

Summary:

William Landor is returning to Boston after a falling out with his father and a move to England. He returns with many secrets and a desire to be the son his father has always wanted. The son he couldn't be before. Trouble greets him when he lands, and it isn't just in the form of his father. War is encroaching over the colonies and Boston seems to be caught right in the middle of it, along with William's friend, Dr. Warren. 

William is suddenly torn. He desires to help the people suffering in Boston as well as the soldiers. He feels duty bound to England, the country of his birth, but he can't help but begin to see the cause of the rebels in a new light. In the middle of it all, William struggles with his past secrets and his father who is slowly turning him into a man William knows he isn't.

First of all. Wow. As much as I enjoyed Sarah's other books she blew me away with this one. Her story telling as visibly improved and pulled me in in ways I wasn't expecting. I had a hard time putting this book down and it wasn't only over my love for Warren.

The plot was engaging and exciting, while at the same time I could feel the suffering William was going through not only with is father but where he stood on the issue of the war. He wasn't the typical character running from his past and trying to hide what he had done. I actually cared about him.

I loved the other characters just as much as William, especially Selah, the fiery patriot girl William meets. I loved her, even with her sharp tongue. She was an amazing character, ready to stand up and speak out on behalf of the colonies. 

Of course, then we have Dr. Warren. It is hard to read a book when a real life historical figure is a prominent character. I have tried before and always felt like the writer took too many liberties and forced in changes to make the person into a more "interesting" character. This is one reason I refuse to read fiction books based on real life people. (I tried one with Wallace and gave up after two chapters.) Now I don't claim to be the world leading expert on Dr. Warren, but what I did learn of him makes me feel I can safely say Sarah managed what I had started to think of as impossible. I have no idea the amount of time she put into researching Dr. Warren's life, but never once did I feel like she had changed him to make her book a more exciting story. He felt real, alive, like he stood in the room beside me as himself. It was amazing and I am still impressed.

I think this is by far one of my top favourite historical fiction books and I recommend it to everyone who loves the Revolutionary War period. It is an amazing story.