Beyond the Brightening Sea By Trudy J. Morgan-Cole

To say that this king no longer existed and that no other would be put in his place was like going to services on a Sunday and being told by the minister that God had died the night before. What would be the point, then, of all the kneeling and praying and preaching? What anchor would hold them in place if the seabed was gone? God and king were the same: distant, unseen, but necessary.

Beyond the Brightening Sea by Trudy J. Morgan-Cole begins in 1649 with the beheading of King Charles I. In far-off Avalon, New Found Land, fleeing Royalists work to establish a fishing colony, led by a Governor still loyal to the Crown.

Months later, when word of the king’s execution reaches the colony, a period of unease and upheaval begins as tensions rise between the Royalists and the Puritans, or Levellers, who reject the divine right of Kings in favour of literal biblical teachings about God’s supremacy, godliness, and wives and children understood as being subject to men. When two visiting female Quakers preach that all men and women are equal in God’s eyes, the resident preacher further inflames the community with his response.

I am filled with holy anger to learn that there are people in this very congregation who have gone to suckle poisoned milk from the heretical teats of these women! Any husband who brings his wife to such a meeting or allows her to attend, is leading her astray, as surely as if he had forced her to commit an unnatural act. And any women who goes to such a meeting in the ignorance of her husband or in defiance of his orders, is no better than an adulteress – indeed, she is worse, for she has betrayed God and her husband not just in body but in spirit!

The lives of four women intersect as each of them endeavours to navigate a place for themselves amid conflicting ideologies, socio-economic constraints, political pressures and their own desires and ambitions. The unease culminates in widespread community discord, as the visiting Quakers continue to challenge prevalent community beliefs and bring into the open discussions of obedience, godliness and slavery. The freeborn Hannah, who had not signed an indenture, had been forced into slavery and was now fighting for her own liberation. The Quakers respond publicly to Hannah’s situation:

He said that, just as St. Paul told the slave owner Philemon to treat his runaway slave as a brother in Christ, so we are all brothers and sisters, none greater than another. Servants must obey their masters, of course, and anyone serving out an indenture must do it faithfully. But ‘tis laid on my heart that one person should never own another or hold them in bondage for life. And though not all Quakers are in agreement on this matter, my friend Mary and I have prayed together, and we are both so convinced that no Christian should own a slave.

Carefully researched, Morgan-Cole has brought to life a challenging period in Newfoundland history while also highlighting the key and sustaining role of female friendships, the challenges of class, the dependence of women on their husbands and the driving passion for freedom and justice. The four women in this narrative are based upon historical figures and Morgan-Cole has served them well as she gives them voice. Highly recommended.

Trudy Morgan-Cole is the author of seven Newfoundland historical novels published by Breakwater Books, most recently the Cupids Trilogy: A Roll of the Bones, Such Miracles and Mischiefs, and A Company of Rogues. In addition to novels, her other writing includes the play The Mirror about pioneering Newfoundland suffragist Armine Nutting Gosling. Trudy is a retired educator who lives in St. John’s with her husband and dog.

Publisher: Breakwater Books (October 6, 2026)
Paperback: 5.5″ x 98.5 | 365 pages
ISBN: 9781778531040

Lucy E. M. Black

Website

Lucy E.M. Black (she/her/hers) is the author of The Marzipan Fruit Basket, Eleanor Courtown, Stella’s Carpet, The Brickworksand Class Lessons: Stories of Vulnerable Youth,and A Quilting of Scars. The Mural will be released in April 2027. A retired educator, her award-winning short stories have been published in Britain, Ireland, USA and Canada. Lucy co-ordinates Heart of the Story, an author reading series, writes reviews for The Miramichi Reader and serves as Writer-in-Residence for Scugog Memorial Library. She lives in the small lakeside town of Port Perry, Ontario, the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island, First Nations.