Out Front the Following Sea is a historical epic of one woman's survival in a time when the wilderness is still wild, heresy is publicly punishable, and being independent is worse than scorned-it is a death sentence. At the onset of King William's War between French and English settlers in 1689 New England, Ruth Miner is accused of witchcraft for the murder of her parents and must flee the brutality of her town. She stows away on the ship of the only other person who knows her innocence: an audacious sailor-Owen-bound to her by years of attraction, friendship, and shared secrets. But when Owen's French ancestry finds him at odds with a violent English commander, the turmoil becomes life-or-death for the sailor, the headstrong Ruth, and the cast of Quakers, Pequot Indians, soldiers, highwaymen, and townsfolk dragged into the fray. Now Ruth must choose between sending Owen to the gallows or keeping her own neck from the noose.
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(@RegalHouse1, 11 January 2022, ebook, 312 pages, #ARC from the publisher via @edelweiss_squad and voluntarily reviewed)
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I'd never heard of King William's War between French and English settlers before so Out Front the Following Sea appealed to me because it was about a period of history I had no knowledge of. I've read a lot of historical fiction over the past few years. I really enjoyed this book. It took a few chapters to get into because the book contains a lot of description and detail and the language is quite dense at times. What kept me flicking the pages is Ruth, a brilliantly written character, a feisty, opinionated woman in an era when women are killed for less. I was also impressed by the historical detail.
