The Color of Fire

The Color of Fire by Rinaldi, Ann. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780786809387.

Someone is setting fires in New York City. It is 1741 and, as a colony of Britain, America is at war with Spain. The people in New York City are on a heightened state of alert, living in fear of Catholics acting as Spanish secret agents. Phoebe, an enslaved girl, watches as the town erupts into mass hysteria when the whites in New York City convince themselves that the black slaves are planning an uprising. Her best friend, Cuffee, is implicated in the plot, and the kings men promise to let him go if he names names. Several people are hanged and many more are burned at the stake, but the mob wont rest until they find a mastermind behind the plan, someone Catholic and white-and theres suspicion that Phoebes teacher Mr Ury is a priest.