Whiskey Rebels by David Liss

I had received this as a Christmas present and it sat on my nightstand until I finally decided to tackle it. A full size hardback of a bit over 500 pages.

This is an historical novel set just after the Revolutionary War as the new nation struggles to set itself on a new experiment in liberty and freedom. Washington is President, Aaron Burr is a Senator from NY, Alexander Hamilton in Secretary of the Treasury and Jefferson is on the sidelines, hating everything Hamilton represents. There are 2 main characters. Ethan Saunders was a cunning spy who was disgraced as a traitor and is now a useless drunk. The other is Joan Maycott, a thoroughly modern woman who reads, dreams of being a novelist. She finds a man she likes and pursues him to the alter.

Now here is where if can get a bit complicated. For the most part, the tales are told in parallel in every other chapter. Ethan's mentor as a spy had a daughter whom Ethan was set to wed. Then the father was murdered and the rumor was he was partly to blame. Cynthia marries for money and comfort and out of Ethan's life. now, 10y later, she seeks him our to help her find her missing husband.

Joan's husband was in the war and like most veterans, held worthless script for back wages. They are tricked into exchanging the script for land west of Pittsburgh. While in the wilderness, they perfect the trade of whiskey making and run afoul of the local baron who wants to corner the market.

Now as disparate as the two stories seem, there is a connection. Hamilton is trying to set up the Bank of the United States and to help set it up, he gets congress to pass a whiskey tax. This is an affront to those in the wilderness who view this as a burden on the poorest of citizens. Ethan's search for Cynthia's husband brings him into the world of traders who are positioning to score big when either the Bank of the US or a competitor Million Bank of NY open. Joan sets out with a band of woodsmen back to Philadelphia with a plan to break Hamilton and his bank. to do so, she must use cunning and manipulation to get her house of cards built and then at the right time, to cause it to collapse.

The author is very clever in how he winds these stories together. The way he tells the tale, each appears to be parallel in time, but actually, the Maycott story covers a much longer period of time and the two tales actually meet in time on the last 50-100 pages. As Ethan reforms and gets off the bottle, an investigator working for Hamilton tells Ethan he was nothing but a useless drunk when they met. And now? Now, Ethan is a useful drunk. In the end, Joan is successful in destroying the man who tricked her and her husband so many years ago, but fails to bring down Hamilton and his bank. I was sort of reminded of the last scene in the movie The Sting when Paul Newman asked Robert Redford if scamming the bad guy was enough to pay back for the loss of his friend and Redford replies something like 'No, but it's close.' Joan won . . . sort of.

good stuff, once I got used to the formal language and behavior of the characters of the time. In this age, honor and reputation ruled and to insult one's honor was to invite a challenge. Smears one's reputation and you best be watching over your shoulder and these folks had a very long memory.

EC Don