Christine Miller¿s Storm Brewing is the riveting novel of two families and how their lives intersect during a time of political change and upheaval. The Bywells and the Kendalls live in northwestern New Jersey and the French and Indian war begins to rage. The Bywells are small landowners and farmers, long settled into their community and adept at the work involved in maintaining a homestead. The prosperous Kendalls are their friends and are no less accustomed to managing their own land¿but the French Indian War changes everything. As most of the men leave on a trading trip, the women of the community are faced with the chore of maintaining a semblance of normality¿the day-to-day struggles, the raising of the children, and the concerns of whether their husbands will safely return all become part of their daily routine. Martha Kendall, matriarch and midwife, finds herself becoming mother not only to her own children, but to the community that surrounds her as well. Miller¿s novel focuses on the day-to-day activities of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances. As the politicians and power brokers make decisions, her story accurately portrays how those decisions affect the citizens of a struggling community.