Review: Tinker

In most history classes (at least when I was in school), there seems to be too much emphasis on wars. While I do enjoy learning about the war years of various civilizations (mainly the home front aspects), the times in between the wars are often neglected.

Tinker by Jennifer M. Lane is set during a time that I barely remembered: the Whiskey Rebellion of the 1790s. This alternative history weaves together real participants and incidents (tax inspector John Neville and the attack on his home) with fictional characters (John’s estranged daughter Caroline and a local reporter named Tench).

The title of the book comes from a series of anonymous notes and newspaper articles that are signed Tom the Tinker. In this story, Caroline tries to submit an article under her own name, but it is rejected. So she tries again, but signs the new submission as Tom the Tinker.

The love story between Caroline and Tench is well written and I would have liked to have heard more about them, both as a couple and as individuals. Their romance was definitely a whirlwind and some more time for them to discover each other seemed needed.

My one gripe with the writing is that at times, Lane seems to squeezes in extraneous details that sometimes pulled me out of the narrative. It seemed like she found some historical tidbits and shoehorned them in. This didn’t happen often, but enough that I made note of it.

I got my love of history from my mother and her particular interest was the American Revolution. After finishing Tinker, I was thinking how much I wished she was still here so I could share this book with her and we could discuss our favorite parts.

4 lattes out of 5

Disclaimer: I received this book as a free eARC from the author. All views shared here are my own.