Colleen Coble steps away from her usual suspense thrillers to provide a thrilling yet romantic historical novel with “Freedom’s Light” — a foray into the worlds of lighthouses and the Revolutionary War.
When Hannah Thomas’s husband is suspiciously killed during the American Revolution, she is left to care for the Gurnet Point Lighthouse in Massachusetts all by herself. An unusual occupation for a woman, Hannah takes her job as light keeper seriously, including rescuing survivors of shipwrecks off her rocky coast.
Seemingly supportive of the British, Captain Birch Meredith is one of those survivors. After breaking his leg during the shipwreck, Hannah is forced to care for him until he’s recovered enough to return to the sea. As they each begin to develop feelings toward each other, Hannah must reject his love because he is a Tory — and has a deep seeded anger against God and a British major who took the life of Birch’s brother.
To counteract the lonely life at a lighthouse, Hannah invites her sister Lydia, who ends up entering an unhealthy relationship with a former childhood acquaintance. Hannah and Lydia must learn to deal with the consequences of their choices … and of living in an oppressively judgmental town.
“Freedom’s Light” is an incredibly accurate novel that lovers of history will deeply enjoy. And it’s filled with enough romance that those who seek a romantic tale will also enjoy this story.
But Coble’s latest offering is more than just a romantic historical novel full of intrigue. It also contains many deep lessons, like overcoming anger and injustice; how to bridle one’s tongue; releasing animosity; being accountable for one’s actions; how we react to sin; and God sees to our needs, but we must also seek after His will.
The power of vengeance is a major theme running throughout the novel — highlighting the impact of how we deal with vengeance and the detrimental influence it can hold over us. The other major theme (reflected in the book’s title) deals with shining our spiritual light and how it can impact not only our own lives, but others’ as well.
Coble offers a great historical novel with “Freedom’s Light,” giving us a view into women’s roles in the Revolutionary War and their stories of strength and fortitude. It does contain some serious and adult themes, so I would recommend this book for older teens and adults.
Five stars out of five.
Thomas Nelson provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.