Five 4ths of July is an historical fiction geared towards young adults. The main character, 15 yr. old Jake Mallery, is based on an ancestor of the author’s husband.  The novel covers five 4ths of July, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781 and each is a pivotal day in the life of a teenaged boy living on the Connecticut coast during the Revolutionary War.

The story is filled with rebellion, young romance, adventure, danger and fear, as Jake progresses from a boy to a rebel to a soldier to a prisoner to a patriot. Most gripping is the prisoner section, as it depicts the often overlooked and very grim history of the British prison ships. The author notes that while approximately 4,500 Americans died on the battle fields during the Revolutionary War, another 11,500 died horrific deaths in the holds of British prison ships in the New York harbor.