Only strategic deals and outright blackmail keep her safe, and then, only barely. Though Kate does morph nicely from plain Quaker to embellished socialite, it isn’t enough to conceal her connection to the Rebel cause.

Certain British officers who’ve been to her home in Pennsylvania know her identity and have already suffered breaches of security at Kate and Mrs.

Her job is to position herself where she will be privy to military secrets that she passes on to Washington and Hamilton via her coded letters. Ferrers tutors Kate, a fast learner, and Kate joins the social network of British officers and sympathizers who’ve taken up residence in Philadelphia. While living on the family homestead in Pennsylvania, the young, fiercely independent Quaker, Kate Grey, decides to work with Angela Ferrers, a beautiful and daring spy who works for the Rebel cause. “The Turncoat” is a lot of fun, especially since love and democracy prevail though not without coded letters, torture, disguises and, at times, courageous death. And had I bypassed this book, I would never have learned that “romance” also bears investigation if you’re at all interested in erotic literature. There are acts of spying and subterfuge, bloody and demoralizing battles, Quakers torn between faith and duty, military leaders like George Washington and Alexander Hamilton coping with a dearth of supplies while attempting to strategize next moves, the day-to-day life of soldiers and farmers and vulnerable women left alone, roving bands of terrorist dragoons and British sympathizers living the last of the high life. The smart writer, with a talent for fashioning immersive historical detail into page-turning drama, gives us a bird’s-eye view of the British occupation of Philadelphia in 1777.

Had I not once worked with author Donna Thorland at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., I probably would have bypassed “The Turncoat,” a book that spans genres. While categorizing books might be a good move for book sellers who have shelving and selling to do, it’s a different story for browsers open to discovery. It’s not fair to say that “The Turncoat: Renegades of the Revolution” is historical romance. “ The Turncoat: Renegades of the Revolution” By Donna Thorland.

The Turncoat by Donna Thorland