A Secret JourneyAs the winter of 1704 approaches, New Englanders are reeling from the news of war with the French and Indians. Meanwhile a mysterious letter has arrived for the widow Madame Sarah Kemble Knight, instructing her to bring the twin servants, twelve-year-olds Hester and Philena, on an unfamiliar journey from Boston toward New Haven, Connecticut. But Madame Knight decides to take only one of the sisters, who have been bound in servitude since infancy. However Philena soon risks her life to follow Hester and the widow. When they meet up, the trip turns perilous. The travelers face drowning, starvation, and exhaustion as they make their way through menacing woods, hazardous swamps, and wild rivers. But neither girl can imagine the real reason for the journey that will end in New York and change their lives forever....