Tea and Tyranny

Between the lines and pages that fill our history books hide a wealth of untold stories about the commoners who filled countless homes, streets, shops, and taverns. In the third installment of William E. Johnson's series of historical novels about the American Revolution, we return to eighteenth-century Boston's snow-covered sidewalks and alleys.

In the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, owner and operator, Big Bessie Clump rubs her head in silence, trying to blot out the horrid sights and sounds of redcoats slaughtering her friends and customers in what is now known as the Boston Massacre. Survivors of the rebellious, wild-eyed mob looking for a fight now shuffle into her tavern, glassy-eyed and in search of a drink...and a shag. Little does Big Bessie know, this is only the beginning of one of her city's most volatile periods.

While America's founding fathers squabble in courtrooms and meetinghouses, it's the common people who end up facing and living with the results of those arguments. These are their stories of survival, forbidden romance, and betrayal during a turbulent time of avarice and corruption that isn't unlike many of the realities our country still faces today.