Sonya: Master Wings Publishing. Books that inspire, educate, and last. Welcome to the Master Wings Publishing podcast. I'm Sonya, Associate Publisher here at Master Wings, and I'm joined by our Business Manager, Jeff.  

Jeff: Hey Sonya, great to be here. Today we're gonna dive into Harold Coyle's newest release, a Revolutionary War-era novel called No Small Thing. 

Sonya: Yes, let's. No Small Thing is an outstanding example of historical fiction. It's a sweeping story of an extraordinary time, and with the United States' 250th anniversary right around the corner, it's a wonderful moment to highlight the start of it all. I think that Harold Coyle blends meticulous research here with heart, and he shows how history's big turning points hinge on humans.  

Jeff: So, No Small Thing drops us into 1775, with soldiers, loyalists, daring women, and foreign observers, all who wrestle with conviction, survival, and the cost of freedom.  

Sonya: Yeah, let's start where this novel begins, in those precarious early months when nothing about a United States was guaranteed. Coyle gives us battles and councils, yeah, but also kitchens and taverns and back roads and occupied towns. You really feel how politics reaches the front door.  

Jeff: Yeah, that's not accidental, according to the author. He said he's drawn to stories that let us watch history unfold as the people who make it experience it. You feel it in the pacing, the suddenness of a military roll call, the dread of a march at night, the stillness before decision.   

Sonya: Yeah, I think a lot of people find it easy to romanticize the Revolution, but this book and author Harold Coyle refused to do that. It's a messy, the Revolution is a messy, contradictory, and intimate thing, which makes the moments of conviction present in the book hit that much harder. And I'd say the other reason the book feels so alive is the spread of perspectives.  

Jeff: You're talking about the characters, right? Who are some of your favorites?  

Sonya: I'm gonna say quite a few if you don't mind. I'd start with Anthony Carter, who's a young militiaman who has already faced British fire outside Boston and is learning what it means to live in this choice.  

Jeff: Yeah, he's definitely the face of that first leap into open rebellion. He's on the other side of the line, and the question is really, how does he move forward?   

Sonya: Yeah, I'd then throw next Anton de Chavalier. 

He's that French observer whose Enlightenment ideals collide with the realities of a brutal frontier and a complicated war.  

Jeff: It sounds like, Sonya, you said observer with air quotes.  

Sonya: I absolutely did.  

Jeff: He's so much more than that, right? He's an active participant, and it's pretty clear there's something else at stake for him here.  

Sonya: Mm-hmm. Yeah, he's been in a similar situation before, a few decades earlier. 

And I'd add, let's keep adding up to the pile, Edward Shields, a New Yorker torn between his rebel sympathies and a father who throws in with the crown. He's a son who knows that every step he takes has consequences for his and his family's future.  

Jeff: True. He's not just picking the side. He's weighing loyalty to his ideals against loyalty to his father and also to a family name that might not survive the conflict.  

Sonya: Yeah, I'm gonna give you one last one. I would say Lady Katherine, Kat Trent. She's navigating occupation, trade, and her own independence.  

Jeff: Yeah, Kat is a standout for me. She's a character pushing within the constraints of her time. Mm-hmm. And the book treats her intelligence and economic savvy as forms of resistance. 

Sonya: Yeah, her choices and actions really feel earned. She's really cool. And a final comment on Anton. I find his purpose of engaging just so interesting, and not to not to spoil it too hard, but his priorities aren't the same as everybody else's around him.  

Jeff: So true there. So threaded through all of them is the question, what are you willing to sacrifice for your beliefs? Family, friendship, livelihood, everything. 

Sonya: Everything, yeah. When I think about this book, there's three words that keep coming up for me. I'd say loyalty, freedom, and sacrifice. 

Loyalty is a thing that can be big and abstract, but it could also be not so big and abstract. It can come down to what door you knock on, whose field you're cutting across, who you're hiding, who you're turning in.  

Jeff: And freedom, right? It's half a ration, a winter ferry crossing, a letter you can't safely send. 

What I like about No Small Thing is it keeps saying the same thing, but in so many different ways.  

Sonya: Yeah, and sacrifice, my third word, I would say it's not necessarily glory, you know, there's cost and consequence. There's some characters who give up status, some who give up safety, and some who give up their lives. 

The ledger is sobering, which is why it in No Small Thing rings so true.  

Jeff: And you feel it in the quiet moments too, not just the battles. Again, the book keeps asking, what are you willing to pay for what you believe? And it doesn't let anyone off the hook. 

Sonya: What really struck me in when we were talking to Coyle about the book and the interview, which you can find on the Master Wings website, hint hint, is why Coyle writes historical fiction in the first place. He says he explicitly does it to give life to the period so we can see events the way that people living them did. And I really do feel you can feel that on every page. 

Jeff: Right. I mean, he writes to capture the moment for the reader. You smell the gunpowder, hear the shouted orders, feel the kickback of a musket. 

Coyle writes that when you open the book, you're standing right there.  

Sonya: With him, with Anton, with Kat. Yeah, he's really careful about accuracy. He works to show the time and the people as they were, strengths and blind spots altogether.  

Jeff: And that's why the explanations don't feel like a lecture, right? A musket misfires and suddenly you understand training and panic. Conversation about a business contract tells you more about property law than a paragraph ever could. 

Sonya: Yeah, it's easier to get to. It's more accessible. And Coyle draws on his experience as a re-enactor to accurately depict that stress, the pace of decisions, the confusion, the way the ground itself forces choices. 

Jeff: And it all adds up, right? You feel how bodies move, how a formation breathes, while reloading under pressure can change everything. Yeah. And there's a moral frame too. 

You can tell that people are in their own time, not ours. Yeah.  

Sonya: Coyle treats the revolution as a civil war. There's neighbors at odds. There's families divided. Neutrality is rare and expensive. 

And that lens makes the story intimate and really, really hard to look away from.  

Jeff: So what do you take away with you after this one? For me, it's a reminder that none of our freedoms were guaranteed. Real people risk reputations, money, the future with no safety net. 

Sonya: Yeah, that's a really good takeaway. I'd say it's exactly what Coyle's trying to communicate. He's trying to communicate that there was a cost. 

It's great that stories like these exist because they can keep that cost in view and give readers something really concrete.  

Jeff: And if you want more, we have book club questions and supplemental reads ready for you at masteringspublishing.com.  

Sonya: Yeah, you can use them in your book club, in a classroom, or just on your own. And you should tell us what stayed with you. 

Jeff: Tell us which moment felt most real. Which decision would you have struggled with?  

Sonya: Yeah, that's the conversation we want to keep going here at Master Wings. And No Small Thing is available now from Master Wings Publishing website and wherever books are sold.  

You can find related titles, study guides, author spotlights, the interview that I mentioned previously, all at masterwingspublishing.com.  

Jeff: And of course, don't forget to subscribe, follow, rate, and share the Master Wings Publishing podcast so others can discover these incredible stories, too. Join us next episode as we take a deep dive into Harold Coyle's Savage War of Empire, his French and Indian War novel that reveals the brutal struggle for North America before the Revolution.  

Sonya: Yeah, and until next time, keep exploring, keep learning, and keep the spirit of storytelling alive.