I adore American Revolution-era historical fiction, and I was excited by this premise; however, the execution was pretty lackluster. While I liked that the bulk of the story took place in New York City, and I learned a bit about what was happening while the British controlled the city, I had a hard time buying into and trusting the narrative. There was too much suspension of disbelief and, quite honestly, not enough spying for me.

“During the American Revolution, General George Washington employed a ring of spies in and around New York City, the headquarters for the British war effort in North America. These spies identified themselves in their letters by code numbers. One was known as “355,” which stood for “lady.” To date, her true identity remains unknown.” This story imagines such incredible young woman of courageous spirit.

Grand Bahama Island, 1776. Fifteen year old Francisca Tasker suffers the loss of her mother. Now, she is left with her abusive stepfather from whom she learned wrecking – helping “ships that had run up on sandbars or reefs as they cruised through the Bahama Channel.” Or if it was too late to assist, they’d dove for sunken spoils.

One of those shipwrecks gives her opportunity to escape her brutal stepfather. She assumes the identity of the drowned Emmeline Coates. But she doesn’t know how to do the upper class talk, thus under a pretense of trauma shock she remains mute. She tries to cover her coarse manners by imitating others’ polished ways.

On this ship of Loyalists, she meets Asa Lane – an American rebel, who stands for liberty. “With American independence. Not with a tyrant an ocean away who oppresses innocents by fire and sword.”

In NYC, she lives her privileged life. With time, she starts suffocating pretending to be a highborn lady, when she notices the British mistreatment of American prisoners. It strikes her how she could connect both worlds. Her exposure to British officers, who underestimate her by discussing the war around her like she was invisible, gives her a chance to collect information, which she further passes to the network of spies for George Washington. Thus she becomes a spy.

Enjoyed very much both characters of Franie and Asa. Franie is of adventurous spirit – adventure gives her a sense of freedom. She learns the etiquette, but at heart she is the same spirit, holding on to wrecker instinct of finding things such as buttons and flowers and tucking them into her pockets. She is an independent young woman, who doesn’t want to live in a shadow of a man. “Duncan talked. I listened. We were like a river – flowing one way.” Her experience of both worlds, poverty and privilege, gives her a chance to learn a lot about herself. She realizes that there is more to life than her ‘safe life.’ She wants to have a purpose in life. And she finds it in fighting for America’s freedom.

Asa is a rebel himself, not afraid to voice his opinion with his Loyalist father. He wants America to be free from abuses of a tyrant king from across the ocean.

I see this read as an incredible motivation for YA to search their souls to find the meaning in their lives and to pursue it with passion. It is an easy pick as it is written with great humor, engrossing characters, interesting historical background, and moving the story swiftly until you are left with words – what a remarkable story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres because I'm one of those people who enjoy learning about different points in history and how others lived, worked, and viewed the world. I don't really know if this worked as a historical fiction novel. I admit I disengaged from the story and ended up giving up halfway through, so it's possible I missed stuff.

Not a lot is known about Agent 355. I looked her up and there is much speculation about who she was, so I can't really fault the author on taking artistic license. The problem is that the author chose to put this girl with an alcoholic stepfather and a dead mother who was ostracized for being a "shamed woman" (meaning she was accused of sexual immorality). The stepfather then decides he's going to marry Frannie, after the narrative mentions he'd been groping her. I'm aware that this sort of thing happened, but why was this the choice for the main character's backstory? The author could have chosen any background for the main character and she went with this.

It gets pretty unbelievable at times, too. Frannie escapes her stepfather by taking on the identity of a dead high-class girl. Somehow Frannie isn't immediately discovered even though she's had a completely different upbringing. I honestly feel like the author overcomplicated things by not having Frannie already in the upper class and already familiar with influential people who would be involved in the Revolution. Not only does Frannie have to learn proper etiquette and how to behave like this girl she's impersonating, but she also has to learn who all these people are, how to relate with them, and what to say so as not to expose herself as a fraud. There's a scene where they talk about another woman freeing two hundred prisoners, and I couldn't help thinking "I wish I had read about that instead".

There was a pretty good conversation she has with another character about loyalty. It was also really nice that she prayed and believed in God, which is accurate for the time period. I will also give this book props for exposing me to Agent 355. Any time we can celebrate the overlooked women of history is good to me. I just think this particular way was overcomplicated and I really didn't like the backstory the author chose for her.