The Remarkable Cause

A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution

De: Jean C. O'Connor

Narrado por: Jean C. O'Connor

James Lovell desperately wants to help the American cause, but alone in a cold, dark cell in the Boston Stone Jail, his dreams seem a faint illusion.

In icy March winds, pounded by the Americans’ cannon, General Howe evacuates British troops and Loyalists from Boston. James Lovell is forced into a ship bound for Halifax, while his father and family take passage for the British stronghold in the ship’s upper berth. In jail in Halifax, James can only write letters and pray for release, hoping General George Washington will hear his appeal.

In The Remarkable Cause, experience conflict and courage in the roots of the American Revolution:

• protests over the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts

• hanging in effigy, tar and feathering

• tension of the Boston Massacre trials

• troops charging Bunker Hill

• dreadful conditions in British jails for James and his fellow prisoners

• the strength of a friend, Ethan Allen of the Green Mountain Boys

• James’s passion for his family, in his own words

Jean C. O’Connor, a high school English teacher for over thirty years, researched this story using letters, journals, and documents written by James Lovell and his contemporaries. Inspired by a few sentences in her grandmother’s journal, Jean discovered details of that time far away—yet still relevant. Images from early newspapers and pictures enliven the narrative’s pages.

©2021 Post Hill Press, Knox Press (P)2025 Jean C. O'Connor

The Remarkable Cause A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution by Jean C. O’Connor

Jean’s thirty-five years of teaching secondary education is evident in her research and professional voice and flair for characterizations of those who rebelled against the English.
James was a graduate of Harvard as was his father, both teachers in the Boston Latin School. John aligned with the English King, and James was against the tyrants of the Stamp Act, the tax on tea,
Lovely red-haired, Mary Lovell, supported James’s beliefs, bore eight children, and cared for the family for the years James was imprisoned as a spy for the Revolution.
James and his fellow compatriots endured little food, fleas, freezing or roasting temperatures, and cruel jailers in the Boston Jail, Provost Prison, and the Hollis Street Jail.
History truly comes alive in The Remarkable Cause. Benedict Arnold is described wearing finery that contrasts with those in rags, Giant Ethan Allan is as outspoken and brave as would befit a passionate Rebel.
I enjoyed (dark humor) Chapter 25: “The Tar and Feathering of Malcolm.” Malcolm, a Loyalist, beat a poor man with his cane, and the rag-wrapped
man in the mob, aroused the mob’s anger. Jean O’Connor’s voices of mob members’ lines reigned down on Malcolm: “We’ll deal with ‘um.” “Get his shoes, too.” “Feathers needed.” “Here, hold him as they poured boiling tar on his back, his shoulders, and finally his head.” “Then the crowd tore open the pillowcases of feathers and threw them on the hot tar.”
Malcolm finally promised to resign as the Custom’s Official when a sailor in the crowd drew out a dagger and threatened to cut off Malcolm’s ears.
The English might have believed that might makes right; however, the American Revolution proved right is might.