The Sewing Girl's Tale

Sweet drew me in from the start with this story of 17-year-old seamstress Lahan Sawyer who was raped in late 18th century New York. The book not only tells us the story of this crime and Sawyer’s courage to press charges but also opens a window into life in that era, from class dynamics to legal proceedings around claims of rape, to the political dynamics of New York in those years after the Revolution.

But what I really love about this book is its narrative force. Sweet renders the world of a New York recovering from war as he speculates… show more.

It’s the story of a rape trial in 1790s New York, and so is heartbreaking on almost every page.

But I have taught the case many times and was blown away by both the historical detective work Sweet did to tell this story more fully and by the sensitivity he brought to the writing. It’s a triumph of historical scholarship.

My favorite stories are those of common people, and yet finding much detail on everyday, working-class individuals during the era of America’s founding is quite difficult.

This book is a rare exception, a study of a court case that became a media sensation, leading to a wealth of information about the individuals involved. The author has carefully sifted through the legal documents, newspaper accounts, and other records, and tells the story in a highly readable manner.

It is a tale of one woman’s struggle to prevail against a power structure that was aligned against her, and the influence of society… show more.