For October 14, 2014 Meeting
The Traitor's Wife (496 pages)
by Allison Pataki
Everyone knows Benedict Arnold—the Revolutionary War general who
betrayed America and fled to the British—as history’s most notorious
turncoat. Many know Arnold’s co-conspirator, Major John André, who was
apprehended with Arnold’s documents in his boots and hanged at the
orders of General George Washington. But few know of the integral third
character in the plot: a charming young woman who not only contributed
to the betrayal but orchestrated it.
Socialite Peggy Shippen is
half Benedict Arnold’s age when she seduces the war hero during his
stint as military commander of Philadelphia. Blinded by his young
bride’s beauty and wit, Arnold does not realize that she harbors a
secret: loyalty to the British. Nor does he know that she hides a past
romance with the handsome British spy John André. Peggy watches as her
husband, crippled from battle wounds and in debt from years of service
to the colonies, grows ever more disillusioned with his hero,
Washington, and the American cause. Together with her former love and
her disaffected husband, Peggy hatches the plot to deliver West Point to
the British and, in exchange, win fame and fortune for herself and
Arnold.
Told from the perspective of Peggy’s maid, whose faith
in the new nation inspires her to intervene in her mistress’s affairs
even when it could cost her everything, The Traitor’s Wife brings
these infamous figures to life, illuminating the sordid details and the
love triangle that nearly destroyed the American fight for freedom. (from Amazon.com)