The Traitor’s Wife: A Novel by Allison Pataki

             It’s not often anymore that I wander around the library looking for something to read.  Usually I have something specific in mind or there is a book waiting for me to pick up, but recently I decided I would take a look at the new book section to see what else might catch my attention.  What I came across was The Traitor’s Wife.  A work of historical fiction, it is about the wife of Benedict Arnold through the eyes of her maid.  This book came to me at the right time.  If I had come across this book a few months ago, I might not have been all that interested.  Thanks to a Revolutionary War series on History, now I am.  During that series I learned that Benedict Arnold’s becoming a traitor was not as black and white of a situation as it has been made out to be for so long.  There were a lot of things that happened to lead up to his actions that are rarely ever mentioned.  I learned about them in the series I watched and it made me wonder which direction the book was going to go.  The book went home with me so I could find out.   

                Clara Bell is going into her new maid’s job not knowing what to expect.  While she has worked as a maid to some extent, it was on a farm.  The expectations of what a maid does on a farm are completely different from those in a city like Philadelphia.  Then there is the woman Clara will be working for.  Peggy Shippen is unlike anyone Clara has encountered, or anyone else in Philadelphia for that matter. 

                A socialite, Peggy is all about proving she is better than the other ladies of society.  She must be the best dressed, the most well made up, and get all the male attention.  It’s not that she actually wants all these men; she just wants them to like her more than any other.  Her top prize is John André.  This man she actually has feelings for, which he uses to his advantage.  André loves to charm the ladies and does so in front of Peggy.  Then, professing his love for Peggy over all others, he easily maneuvers Peggy into compromising situations.  Not that Peggy minds, but it isn’t proper and creates a great deal of angst for poor Clara.  On her very first night of working for Peggy, she is charged with making sure Peggy behaves at a party.  While she does her best, Peggy manages to slip away into the dark with André while Clara isn’t looking.  Fortunately for Clara, she is able to find the couple before things get too far, but it is quite a wakeup call for Clara as to what she has gotten herself into.       

                At home, Peggy, always only thinking of herself, uses Clara’s inexperience to her advantage.  She alternates between being kind and abusive, one moment giving Clara a dress and the next being harsh at her over a trivial matter.  Peggy even uses Clara as a pawn in a lifelong game against her sister.  Clara was supposed to serve both Shippen sisters, but Peggy has decided to keep Clara for herself, sometimes even hiding Clara so she cannot be of assistance to anyone else.  This gets wearing on Clara.  She wants to do her job well, but it is hard with Peggy’s mood shifts and erratic behavior.  The only place Clara truly has to escape is in her friendship with Caleb, the stable boy.  He sees Clara as far more than a friend, but she is young and does not know what to do about the situation except to keep Caleb as a treasured friend.  It isn’t until he leaves for the military that she begins to understand her own feelings for Caleb and she is left to wonder whether she is too late.

                While Clara tries to understand her relationship with Caleb, Philadelphia is turned over to the colonists.  This means Peggy’s beloved André must leave, along with all the luxuries of life she so loves.  Peggy is inconsolable and in great despair.  At least she is until she decides she must outdo all the other ladies and snare the new leader of Philadelphia, General Benedict Arnold, for herself.  It’s not that she’s actually interested in Arnold, but she figures she can use him to get the luxuries she desires.  She is right.

                It takes very little time for Arnold to fall madly in love with Peggy.  Getting married does not take much time either.  It’s all part of Peggy’s plan to get what she wants in life.  Unfortunately for her, there are a few things she did not take into consideration.

                While Peggy is enough for Arnold, nothing is good enough for Peggy.  This causes a lot of dismay for Arnold, but instead of separating from Peggy, he does whatever he can to make her happy.  Of course Peggy is thrilled with this until she finds out that Arnold has run out of money.  He has spent so much trying to please Peggy, that now they have hardly anything and are forced to live in a cabin behind Peggy’s family home.  This was not part of Peggy’s plan.  She was supposed to live like a queen and never considered there may not be enough money in which to do so.  Now she’s stuck in a cabin that she hates with a husband she doesn’t truly care for.  The only benefit is she still has Clara working for her, but the unhappier Peggy gets, the more abusive she gets to Clara.  Arnold does try to curb his wife on this, but instead of letting up, Peggy becomes jealous of Arnold’s kindness to Clara and the treatment becomes worse.

                On top of this, Arnold is now in trouble with the military.  After years of service, Arnold is terribly hurt at the accusations that have been put upon him.  This angst makes him vulnerable to Peggy’s plan to turn traitor and side with the British.  A dedicated officer, Arnold is reluctant at first.  Actually, he’s pretty uncertain about what they’re doing all the way through the plan, but Peggy convinces him it’s the right thing to do.  Arnold believes that by doing this, he and Peggy are taking a stand together against maltreatment from the military.  What Arnold does not see is that Peggy’s motivation has nothing to do with supporting her husband.  It all has to do with going back to the way of life she prefers, as well as to her beloved John André.                                     

                As the Arnolds plan, they never think about the fact that Clara is in the room.  They speak freely as though she isn’t even there until they need something.  Arnold even uses Clara to help draft coded messages, never once thinking about the awkward position he is putting Clara in, or the fact that she could turn him in.  Fortunately for Peggy and Arnold, for quite awhile Clara does not know what to do with the information she hears.  First off, she doesn’t know if anyone will believe her.  Then if they do, will they think she is a traitor too?

                Right away this book put me in a dilemma.  It was well written and I liked Clara, but Peggy grated on my nerves.  I did not know how long my patience would last with her.  She treated people badly and that did not sit well with me at all.  It’s a good thing the novel stuck with Clara otherwise I would not have gotten far with it.  Clara is a great character, as are most of the others.  They are believable as people which I think is important in historical fiction.  No one was perfect, but no was completely evil either; not even Peggy.

               At the end of the book, the author put in a great section about which parts of the story were fact and which were fiction.  I love when an author of historical fiction does this because I do want to know what is true and what is from the author’s imagination.  With this book I was surprised at how much was actual fact.  It was fascinating to read about how many of the characters were real life people.  Not everyone was, but there were quite a lot.  Peggy and Arnold of course were and I enjoyed reading about their life after the war.  It was something I knew absolutely nothing about and I found it interesting how different Peggy after the war was from how she is portrayed in the book as her younger self.  The difference is so drastic, it leads me to wonder, who is the real Peggy?