The Seabrooks

Book excerpt: The Seabrooks is the first book in a three-part saga that I am writing. This three-part saga chronicles and depicts the Seabrook family as they struggle to maintain their position of neutrality in the Revolutionary War. The entire family, which consists of Betty, Henry, and John, is convicted to their well-entrenched views toward the war; that is that they wish for the war to end as quickly and peacefully as possible, and with the least amount of bloodshed and property damage as possible. And most important of all, they want to stay completely out of the entire affair. But they are tested by loyalists and patriots alike, and they have to resist temptations, pressures, and other factors that attempt to sway their opinions and ideologies. That is to say, both loyalists (as well as the British) and patriots want the neutralists to join their side because they both knew that it was the neutralists that held the balance of power, and thus, they held the key to victory. The Seabrooks are subjected to a series of events that test the integrity of their neutrality and their resolve to stay neutral. But eventually, a very significant event impacts the entire family and causes them to reassess their ideologies and political views in regards to the war. The saga focuses on the life of John Seabrook, who is the only son and child of Henry and Betty Seabrook. They are a strong and morally upright family, and they portray a typical and traditional family that was common during the Revolutionary War era. They are members of the roughly one third of the colonial Americans who wished to remain neutral in the war. These neutralists, as I call them, took on a political view that emphasized not only staying uninvolved throughout the war, but they also desired a swift, bloodless, and peaceful resolution to the conflict; perhaps nowadays, one might refer to them as pacifists.