The Messenger by Siri Mitchell

The Messenger by Siri Mitchell is a novel of a time during the Revolutionary War.  She tells  of Hannah Sutherland who was a Quaker perfectly content in her life until her twin brother, Robert, joins the rebel cause because of his love for a servant in the family who had been fired after being raped by a Loyalist and later becoming pregnant.  Robert was later captured and imprisoned within the city that they lived.  The Quakers being passivist have decided to have nothing to do with the war and will not allow the family to take food, clothing or to even visit the prisoners even if they are family.  Hannah feels that even if she is going against her faith she must see her brother.  Jeremiah who is a spy for the rebels asks her to carry a message into the prison in return for her getting a pass to see her brother and so begins Hannah's journey into spying for the rebel cause.
This is one of the best books that I have read.  It helps explain the extreme reasons for the ammendment forbiding a citizen to be forced to house soldiers.  It helps explain how difficult it is to remain passive when the war is in your own backyard.  It tells how difficult it is to remain true to your faith when your very church is mandating things of which you cannot believe to be true.  It tells of how difficult it is to remain a Christian when it seems that everyone is against you.  This book will remain with me for a long time to come. Thank you Ms Mitchell for writting it.
This book was provided to me for this review.