The Traitor's Wife

I chose The Traitor’s Wife by Allison Pataki because it was right before July 4th and I thought an audiobook with roots deep in America’s fight for freedom would be a great way to celebrate. I had seen Pataki on a morning news show and was impressed by her and intrigued with her subject matter — Peggy Shippen Arnold, wife of the infamous Benedict Arnold. It turned out to be an excellent choice. Well-researched and well-written, I found the events and people of this novel to be an eye-opening and educational experience. The novel is great fun too!

Peggy Shippen Arnold was instrumental in her husband’s treason. Her character is never sympathetic. In fact you will love to hate her. Arnold is presented somewhat sympathetically, but show more his greed, weakness and selfishness keep him from being really likable. So how do you write a novel that has as its main characters two of the most unpleasant and unappealing people of the Revolution? You tell their story from the point of view of the quiet, unassuming, yet courageous ladies maid, Clara Bell. It is Clara’s life, struggles and triumph that the reader cheers for. The audiobook is well-read as well.

Great for fans of historical novels, The Traitor’s Wife gives an inside look into the politics and culture of the American colonies while shedding light on the intrigue that gave our language a depiction of a turncoat — Benedict Arnold.

Recommended.

Great for Book Clubs.

Audience: Adults show less

This is a wonderful book that weaves fact and fiction together. I used to read Ann Rinaldi books when I was growing up, so I was aware of the marriage between Peggy Shippen and Benedict Arnold. I knew Peggy was a very beautiful woman and also quite manipulative. John Andre also strikes me as a very charismatic man who knew how to work his way around Peggy and also knew when to leave. Unfortunately for Benedict Arnold, I never got the feeling that he truly knew he was a puppet in Peggy's hands.

The upstairs/downstairs life feels very realistic. The servants are seen as mere servants, practically invisible. But they have ears, eyes, and mouths like everyone else. Clara is one willing to take action. Even though Clara is a fictional show more character, I hope someone in the true Arnold household played a role in helping the Patriot cause. show less

Every American school child knows the name Benedict Arnold is synonymous with treason. What I didn't know is just how much of an American hero he was before he became “that” Benedict Arnold. He was involved in key Revolutionary War battles at Fort Ticonderoga and in Quebec as proof of his service to his new country. He was a man who was committed to the Revolutionary effort early in the conflict. He led the offensive at the battle of Saratoga against his senior officer’s orders and was shot multiple times. He paid his men out of his personal fortune when the government couldn’t. If he had died during this period he would be revered as a gold-plated American hero.

What led him to become a traitor? The author puts forward a theory show more that it may have been related to his vivacious and manipulative wife, Peggy. Peggy Shippen Arnold didn't have much of a noble character as she can be summed up as a spoiled brat. She only wanted to attend parties and wear beautiful dresses , and collect handsome, wealthy suitors. Her only loyalty was to herself. She doesn't care if her admirers were the British or the Colonials, as long as they are fawning all over her and she is the belle of Philadelphia.

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 is a British Loyalist. 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 lover 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.

The story is quite engaging because of the historical detail and the fictitious characters the author creates. Told from the perspective of Peggy’s maid, Clara, 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 that could have destroyed the fledgling nation. show less

"If you can't break the rules you might as well seduce the man who makes them."

This is a historical fiction about Peggy Shippen Arnold, the wife of Benedict Arnold. Americans all know Benedict Arnold as a traitor but this book covers Peggy's possible roll in what happened. As I haven't read much historical fiction set during the Revolutionary War this was a bit of a new experience for me and after having read this book I am looking forward to reading more historical fiction set in this time period.

Reading this caused me to be the closest I have ever been to smashing my Kindle to pieces, but not because it was boring or badly written but because Peggy Shippen Arnold was such a bitch. Oh man I can usually take bitchiness up to a certain show more point but Peggy was just so frustratingly bitchy. Every time she was mentioned as or called Miss Peggy I read it as "Miss Piggy." She definitely reminded me of Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With the Wind.

I just loved reading this book from Clara's (Peggy's maid) point-of-view. I really connected with Clara and felt horrible for her that she had to always deal with Peggy. I feared that she would always let Peggy push her around and I really enjoyed seeing how Clara deals with everything at the end.

Allison Pataki includes a historical note at the end explaining more about the facts of the events and showing how she stayed true to those facts and where she sometimes differed from the facts a bit. As a historical fiction book this managed to be based off of history and stay mostly true to the facts while still being an interesting read. show less

The best thing I can say about this book is that I finished it, although there were plenty of times when I did not think I would. If you're a big fan of heady Historical Fiction full of facts and accurate portrayals of historical events, do not pick this book up. This book was short on historical facts, and long on cliches and heavy handed generalizations. Major characters had no depth; they were completely one dimensional (we get it, already, Peggy is the most cunning and the most beautiful and an utterly despicable, irredeemable human being, no gray area there). The narrator is almost without personality and vacillates between fretfulness, simpering subservience, and naivety. The dialogue was uneven and mostly unbelievable. The book show more does describe an actual, interesting historical event, and for me that was it's one saving grace and its probably the reason I finished it, but I would not recommend it. show less

I thoroughly enjoy this novel. The dialogue and settings were believable and the interplay between a beautiful woman and her weak husband, fascinating.

Historical Fiction? More like Historical Fluff-disappointing. I have read about these events a number of times and know that, what is told in this tale is a pile of dung!

I am not an expert, by any means, on any history, but I am a self-proclaimed history(I will use the word of the month-) Geek. And this book left me befuddled and bewildered.

The story is told through the eyes of the maid of Miss Peggy Shippen (who eventually marries Arnold), a Philadelphia beauty who is the darling of the English Army and the paramour of John Andre the man who would eventually turn Benedict Arnold into the re known Traitor of the Colonies.

I loved Clara Bell (the maid) and her story- if this had been the only fictional piece in the book I probably would show more have loved it.

Peggy Shippen was portrayed in so many different lights it was hard to wrap your head around it. In one chapter she is the astute, conniving wench she truly was-in the next breath she was pouty, prone to childish tantrums. Shippen was not the only character that seemed to jump personalities like The Three Faces Of Eve!!!!

This was Allison Pataki's first book, which is why I am giving her a little leeway. I think she was on the right track(with her background, I am again befuddled. What happened? An over-zealous editor/publisher perhaps). I am going to give her another chance and see if lessons were learned from this poor first attempt!

Give me HISTORY-not-FLUFF or call it what is-Fiction show less