As an American abroad, he has found his sympathies lie with the British. But Wolfe’s real motive is to seek out and aid his parent. Included is an important document to be placed directly into Governor-General Thomas Gage’s hands, the highest-ranking British official in North America. He intends to deliver various missives to the Tory government in the states. He sets off on a harrowing trip from Portsmouth to Nova Scotia to the colonies. When Wolfe learns of his father’s arrest, he spends his last eight year’s earnings acquiring a royal pardon. He is present only in the earliest chapters but the portrait establishes Fusaro’s adeptness with even minor characters’ backgrounds and motivations, heralding the rich, engaging tapestry that follows. Franklin is calculating, with a fondness for living that is contagious, but he is also Machiavellian. He removes Franklin’s halo: “Benjamin Franklin was concurrently the most selfish and the most generous man Wolfe had ever known.” Franklin is miserly with lighting candles due to his difficult upbringing and a candlemaker father. Now, he lives in a house with none other than Benjamin Franklin - referred to with sly affection as “The Doctor.”įusaro establishes his approach in the portrait of Franklin, one of the most famous and beloved Americans. Wolfe is a for-hire, with no particular scruples, a lothario, a charmer, and a bit of a profligate. Fourteen years earlier, his father had exiled him to England, resulting in their complete estrangement.
While he recovers, the narrative reveals Wolfe as an American ex-pat, working as a courier throughout Europe. Joethan Wolfe barely survives a duel due to the duplicity of the woman who caused it.
Fusaro offers a compelling work of historical fiction with Captain Sedition: The Death of the Age of Reason.
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