Sins of Liberty - by Ron Seybold (Paperback)

About the Book

A housekeeper falls in love with her parish priest in 1901 Michigan. Their affair leads to parenthood and exile from priesthood. When disease strikes their child, she must rebuild her family after he rejoins his calling to save the boy's life.

Book Synopsis

Seybold's addictive melodrama is a tale of sin, redemption, forgiveness, love, and loss, with a soupçon of tragedy. An intriguing story of the brutal battle for women's rights. - Kirkus Reviews

"Sins of Liberty takes women's rights and immigration and intertwines them in a love story that you won't soon forget." - Jillian Forsberg, author of the historical novel The Rhino Keeper

This solid work of high dramatic embellishments, plus the growing motivations of women to find new places and roles for themselves in America, could not have come at a better time. Enlightening, empowering, and entertaining, all in one.- Midwest Book Review

"Effortlessly summons an era and conjures characters whose lives and tidal swings of fate and fortune will thoroughly invest readers. What a ride." -C. B. Bernard, author of Ordinary Bear and Small Animals Caught in Traps

Anna's plan of retreat doesn't include romance, but love comes calling in 1901 Raisinville. The immigrant brings a secret to the rural Michigan parish where she takes on work as a rectory housekeeper-the abortion she chose to escape a rich cad's broken promises. In that rectory refuge after the sacrifice of her child, she falls for Joe, a new priest listening with love in his voice and honor in his eyes. Taking a chance, she gives herself to him body and soul, searching for love and respect. He's exiled from priesthood for the affair-and then their love delivers a child. Married in secret, a fresh start calls Anna and Joe to Toledo, a hub of breweries, bicycle factories, and prospects for progress.

In a time when the Rust Belt sparkles, she works for better fortunes. Joe was a better priest than he is a provider, but she will improve him. She can be his church. When their child's scarlet fever shatters Anna's dream, they hunt down a cure. But Joe returns to the priesthood as part of his bargain with God. As the pain of separation slashes at her, Anna must start anew. She takes a hand in selecting a replacement husband, the prosperous, rising grocer George who adores her. Motherhood and years of marriage have changed her, but suffrage might sing to her deeper desire for liberty. As she urges her sisters toward the vote, Joe's bishop pursues proof of her secrets: the true father of her son. And if the bishop uncovers her darkest sin from the past, it would smash her suffrage work. To outrun his threat to her safety, family, and dreams, she must step beyond her own courage to find and trust allies. Liberty is at stake.

Review Quotes

Sizzles with high-octane drama yet unfolds the threads of history so compellingly. Replete with subjects of women's and immigrant experiences that will certainly fuel book club and women's reading groups with fresh perspectives and thought-provoking insights, Sins of Liberty's compelling characters drive a story that explores the idea of "doing the right thing" against all odds. It's a solid work of high dramatic embellishments and the growing motivations of women to find new places and roles for themselves in America - Midwest Book Review

Seybold's tour de force in Sins of Liberty claws open the reality of how women desperate to have a say in their own lives and march for the vote come to literal blows with early 1900's patriarchy. Brutalized, confounded, and thwarted at every turn, our heroine Anna rises up from the ashes because of her belief in love and the friendships that guide the way to her independence. - Carole Bumpus, author of the historical novel A Cup of Redemption

An intriguing, complex turn-of-the-century immigration story intertwined with Anna's involvement in the suffragette movement and the brutal battle for women's rights. A bounty of secondary characters provides enough villains and protectors to keep things engaging. Written in Anna's hopeful, occasionally humorous, and always determined voice, periodically alternating with a third-person narrator, Seybold's addictive melodrama is a tale of sin, redemption, forgiveness, love, and loss, with a soupçon of tragedy. - Kirkus Reviews

A hidden family history comes to life as Sins of Liberty pulls the reader through a complex, emotional, and powerful story. Seybold takes women's rights and immigration and intertwines them in a love story that you won't soon forget." - Jillian Forsberg, author of the historical novel The Rhino Keeper

Loved it! With its stories of women's suffrage as well as corruption in the early U.S. Catholic Church, this novel is an interesting take on history. Sins of Liberty skillfully weaves historical facts in an interesting, informative way that kept this reader invested throughout the novel. The role of the women's suffrage movement is strong. Women who marched and fought for the vote faced violence and resistance from many fronts - and the Catholic Church was one of those that insisted women had no place in the voting booth. This novel brings that to life in many stories and examples. - Reedsy Discovery