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= ﻿ ﻿Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson =

Plot- The Revolutionary War is beginning, and Isabel has a huge problem weighing on her shoudlers.
With her mother long dead, and her owner's recent passing, she and her sister, Ruth, are supposed to be legally free. But she is still sold by a evil man with the name of Mr. Roberts to a malicious couple in New York, named the Locktons. They are loyalists who have connections with the British and Parliament, and are getting paid for spying on the rebels. Isabel then meets Curzon, a young slave boy working for the Patriots. She then decides to spy on her owners, and report any information she hears about the Britsh to Curzon. She does this so she can eventually become free and go home to Rhode Island. When Isabel is confined to her master's mansion, she can no longer deliever messages and spies to the Patriots. Long after she is under "house arrest", Madam "sold" Isabel's younger sister to a nice family in Charleston. She was completley devasted, and she ran away from the house. She was caught not long after by the screams of Madam. She was sentenced to a trial in court, and the juged punished her with a branding on her left check(face). The letter was "I" for insolence, according to her mistress. She was left with no hope, and scared forever. The British invaded, hundreds of ships and thousands of men sailed into the harbor in New York. The Loyalists were thrilled that there was finally going to be a war, finally going to put the rebels back in their place. As the British set up their camps, Isabel worked with Cornel Reagan and tried to make a deal with him to set her free if she told of the plot of Lockton and the mayor to kill George Washington. The man responsable for the plot was hung, and Lockton fled the city. Then it happens: the Fort of Washington was seiged and attacked by the British. Thousands of rebels were killed, and many were captured, including Isabel's good friend, Curzon. The Patriots were being defated left and right, and the British was advancing. Everyday that she could, she woke up before the sun rose and visited the prisoners held at Bridewell. She brought Curzon and the other men food, and started delivering messages for Captian Morse, a Patriot and friend of one of the prisoners. When Madam found out of her visitings, she was furious. She ordered her never to go to Bridewell again. Isabel did not listen though. Not long after her threat, Isabel was found by one of Madam's friends recieving a note from a neighboring Loyalist. The friend returned her to her mistress, and she threw her in the potatoe bin during the Queen's Ball. Isabel managed to escape the wooden cage, and she found some maps and took food. She said her goodbyes to Lady Seymour and she ran, all the way to Bridewell prison. She claimed Curzon was dead and she wanted to burry him properly. The guard let her in, for it was very late at night and he didn't care. Isabel used a wheel barrel to carry the "dead" slave out of the prison. She then makes her way to the harbor and steals a rowboat, for she is on her way to finding her sister in South Carolina. All during the night, Isabel rowed her hardest and with every ounce of strength she had left in her. They landed in the morning on an unknown island. and both had survived the treaterous night, CHAINS could no longer confide the bravest slaves in all of history, and Isabel had found her river Jordan. 10/10