Or Give Me Death

By Ann Rinaldi

Subjects: United states, history, revolution, 1775-1783, fiction, Family life, fiction, Virginia, fiction, Family, Mental illness, Causes, Fiction, Children's fiction, Juvenile fiction, Henry, patrick, 1736-1799, fiction, History, Family life

Description: Patrick Henry, the famous statesman, has a secret: He keeps his wife in the cellar. Slowly losing her mind, Sarah Henry has become a danger to herself and her children. But daughter Anne has a secret of her own: She knows which child will inherit their mother's madness. Told from the point of view of the Henry children, this compassionate tale explores the possibility that Patrick Henry's immortal cry of "Give me liberty, or give me death," which roused a nation to arms, was first spoken by his wife as she pleaded for her own freedom.