The Midwife's Revolt

Synopsis

The Midwife's Revolt is a historical murder mystery and roman à clef set in Quincy, Massachusetts, during the American Revolution. Written from the point of view of a young woman who becomes involved in solving two murders, it is a historically accurate depiction of the political intrigue, danger, and behind-the-scenes activities of regular citizens--and especially women—who fought for independence.

Elizabeth Boylston is the writer of this tale. When the novel opens, it is 1818, and Abigail Adams has just died. Lizzie is called to wash the body, as it was Abigail’s wish that her dear friend prepare her for Eternity. It is a sad time for her, but she chooses to commemorate Abigail’s memory by recalling a harsh time when the women were alone during the war. Not only did they survive, but they solved an important mystery whose solution helped save, in however small a way, the American revolution.

Lizzie’s recollections begin in June of 1775, when she is twenty-two, and her husband, Jeb Boylston, has gone off to fight the British at Bunker Hill. She watches the fires burning Charleston with Abigail and her son eight-year-old son John Quincy, from the top of Penn’s hill. Lizzie watches in horror, knowing she is probably witnessing the death of her husband.

After Jeb’s death, Lizzie’s in-laws, members of a prominent Boston family, insist she come live with them, but Lizzie refuses. She likes Braintree, loves her farm and her memories,. Furthermore, she does not want to live with the Boylstons, who are loyalists. The Boylstons disapprove of Lizzie for a number of reasons. For one, she has professed her intention of working as a midwife now that the town is short supply of both men and doctors.  What’s more, the Boylstons blame Lizzie for not leaving them an heir.  Lizzie believes she must be barren, but is still bitter about the Boylston family’s unfair treatment of her.  The worst member of the family is Jeb’s sister Eliza, a haughty  woman who is deeply unkind to Lizzie—until several years later, when she needs Lizzie’s services.

Not wanting the girl to collapse under the burden of impoverished widowhood, the Boylston family sends Lizzie a young servant, Martha Miller, a seemingly docile girl and orphan from a loyalist family. With this help from her in-laws, Lizzie is able to live poor but independently, and to pursue her midwifery.

The action heats up after John Adams’s departure for France in February of 1778, when a small pox epidemic careens through town, sickening many and killing dozens.  Lizzie, heedless of her own welfare, tends the sick and dying, aided by Martha. 

But when the Patriot Dr. Flynt dies, Lizzie finds his pupils dilated in an unnatural way and suspect that he has been murdered. She tells no one, however, until yet another man, also a prominent Patriot, dies of an apparent lethal dose of atropone, the poison found in Belladonna.

Fearing for Abigail and suspecting a Tory plot to derail the revolution, Lizzie must finally communicate the news to her genteel friend. But Abigail, a faithful correspondent with her husband, chooses not to communicate this news to him. Both women suspect that one goal of the treachery might actually be to force John Adams back from France in order to assassinate him.

From this point on, women’s lives become a heroic series of terrors and torments as they protect themselves from an unknown enemy who could still be lurking among their own neighbors. Lizzie takes a huge step: she dresses as a messenger boy and infiltrates a Boston loyalist tavern, in an effort to figure out who has plotted against the Patriots, and precisely whom Abigail has to fear.

Subplots:

Lizzie’s brother Tom, joined a privateer, ship in 1774. Having not heard from him then, Lizzie presumes him dead. But when he marches up to her door in 1778, hale and rich, with a bounty of goods from a British ship, he is the object of joy from his sister and of much attention from Martha, who falls in love with him.

True Romance: Andrew Miller, is Martha' Miller's beloved older brother and a  notorious loyalist. Lizzie, despite her total disdain for his politics, finds herself attracted to him. Andrew Miller, however, will turn out to be quite a different person from the one he masquerades as.

A Racial Element: Eliza Boylston finds herself pregnant and in need of Lizzie's help. She finally reveals to Abigail Adams that the father is a slave owned by her Uncle in New Hampshire. Lizzie delivers the baby, a beautiful boy, who lives with them in secret until a way can be found to unite the father and mother, who love each other and, despite their racial differences, are probably cousins.

The Climax:

Lizzie returns from her old home in Boston after news that her supplies have been broken into, her house trashed, and her belladonna powder—used for cervical dilation in emergencies—taken. A week later, her beloved horse, Star, is killed. This horrible event prompts her to seek out the real story of who threatens Abigail Adams.

The Ending:

The ending holds great surprises for readers: in August of 1788, right before John Adams returns home from France, Lizzie discovers the real killer: it is her own maid, Martha. A Patriot working in league with her brother, she has poisoned the men to prevent them from following through on a plot to destabilize the Revolution by killing all its leaders. The “Patriots” Flynt and Thayer -were actually paid spies for British general Howe. They had in fact been planning to abduct Abigail Adams and force John Adams back to Braintree.  Andrew Miller, on the other hand, is a Washington spy who, by nature of his family background, had been used to infiltrate the Tories, and daily risked his life for the Revolution.

The last pages of her narration recounts the young Lizzie watching Abigail run out to meet John Adams coming up the road, exhausted from his many weeks of travel, none the wiser for the grave plot Abigail has helped solve. Only after Adams is off again does Lizzie let Abigail know how close they came on the night of Adam’s return. But after a few days have passed, Abigail lets Lizzie know that she has shared the startling information with her husband, who immediately reported the news to General Washington. Lizzie later learns that Washington’s spies are able to uncover—and hang—six additional members of the traitorous group.

Despite all this turmoil and intrigue, Lizzie’s narrative ends on a joyous note: in the fall of 1780, Lizzie, who had assumed she was barren, delivers a beautiful boy, whom she names Thomas. And her midwife is none other than Martha Miller, the former servant whose act of delivering life now serves as a partial redemption for the terrible act of having taken life before.

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