The Braintreee Mission Author:Nicholas E.Wyckoff There are two charming heroines in this book—Abigail Adams and Lady Hester Chatham. There is an English nobleman who cannot be classified as a villain, but who is certainly a secret emissary—Edward Humbird, 6th Earl of Hemynge. There is a stupid Prime Minister—Lord North, who serves an equally foolish master, George III of England. There are two... more » heroes, men of widely different backgrounds, but both of extraordinary character—John Adams of Massachusetts, and William Pitt, Lord Chatham. The year is 1770, and the scene moves from London to Boston and back again to London. Out of these characters, all of whom except Lord Hemynge and his secretary Guiseppe Tompkins are figures of history, the author has spun an enchanting tale, a recreation of history as it might have happened. For if Lord North had had the gift of high audacity, if Abigail Adams had not been the perfect wife she was, if John Adams had not possessed a fierce integrity — history might have taken a different course. And because Nicholas Wyckoff is gifted with a lambent humor, a distinguished style, an historic imagination which deepens and makes vivid every page, he has written this dazzling jeu d'esprit. It is a book that the reader must savor for himself if its quality is to be conveyed.« less