This
is a wonderfully written story. Sally Cabot has captured perfection
in mingling fact and fiction. Cabot’s writing style
is pure, unadulterated beauty.
This
story has been told many times as famous founding father,
inventor, publisher, etc. but has never been told in such
an interestingly fictionalized way.
Cabot’s
Benjamin is portrayed as a philanthropic warm family man who
in spite of his many accolades and criticisms never forgets
his roots. In the midst of threatening war and his son, William’s
indiscretion and displaced loyalties, Benjamin Franklin always
takes the high road.
Franklin, prior
to his inevitable common law marriage to Deborah, fathers
a son with Anne, a headstrong poor tavern girl from the Penny
Pot, who he continues to support throughout his life. Later
he takes William into his own family home and raises him against
his wife’s wishes. When her own child dies of the plague,
she ostracizes young William. He grows up to know of his condition
but never knowing of his mother, although at one point in
his early years, comes to live in the Franklin house and act
as his nanny.
Later
in life, Benjamin’s son also fathers an illegitimate
son from an English prostitute. After years of financial support,
Benjamin takes him under his wing. Because of his son’s
loyalty to the English throne, Benjamin and he become estranged.
He tries to bring William into his fold, well knowing that
it is just a matter of time before England’s hold on
America falls from grace, but William’s loyalty to the
monarch is unwavering. William is later imprisoned by the
Patriots, Anne marries, and Benjamin Franklin becomes a hero.
Liberties are taken in the writing, but the historic research
is evident. Cabot’s writing style is a gift. You’ll
want to read more of her works.
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