The Traitor's Wife: A Novel (62 page)

I
WANT TO
thank the friends, colleagues, and family members who have supported me while writing
The Traitor’s Wife
and who made its publication possible.

Mom, you are the reason I found and wrote this story. Dad, you are the reason I love history. I was able to write this novel because the two of you have encouraged me and loved me and taught me that no dream or aspiration should be considered out of reach. I will never be able to properly thank the two of you, but I hope you know how much I love you.

Dave: my husband, best friend, and the most reliable grammarian and editor I know. Thank you for being my partner in every way.

My siblings: Owen, thank you for always knowing the answer to any historical question I ever ask. Teddy and Emled, thank you for inspiring me to look deeply into questions and to pursue dreams passionately. Emily, thank you for telling me, years ago when I first set out on this journey, to look for the conflict that
makes characters compelling, and for encouraging me at every step since then.

Nelson and Louisa: thank you for believing in me even before I knew this was something worth believing in. I’ll never forget the moment when you offered your initial feedback for my very first (and very “rough”) manuscript. Your belief in me meant more than you know. And to all the Levys: my second family, I have learned so much from you on how a family ought to love and support one another.

To my agent and friend, the tireless Lacy Lynch: you are truly talented at what you do and there’s no one I’d rather have championing my work. And to Jan Miller and the rest of the team at Dupree Miller & Associates: thank you for your faith and for taking a chance on me, years ago, when there was still much work ahead.

To Jonathan Merkh, Beth Adams, Amanda Demastus, and the entire team at Howard Books and Simon & Schuster: thank you for sharing my vision and helping me to make it a reality. To my editor, Beth Adams: somehow you managed to make the editing process fun. Thank you for your diligence and your dogged devotion to
The Traitor’s Wife.

To the earliest readers and editors: Marya Myers, my first guinea pig and constant cheerleader, thank you for your contagious enthusiasm; Charlotte d’Orchimont, my sounding board and soul sister, thank you for always understanding what I’m trying to say; Margaret, my cover model and favorite playmate with whom to explore our beloved jungle gym—the imagination; Carolyn Rossi Copeland, Jamie Copeland, and the Copeland girls—my home away from home and the first people with whom I discovered the joys of creating; Liz Steinberg: my Philadelphia tour-guide and constant confidante. Other dear friends have helped by reading, editing, and encouraging me throughout the process: Cristina Corbin and
Jonathan Corbin, Kasdin Miller, Cristina Scudder, Shannon Farrell, Alyssa Oakley, Emily Shuey, Dana Schuster, and Jackie Carter.

And to the many others who have helped me on this journey: Zenia Mucha, thank you for your belief in me and my work; Allison McCabe, your early editorial expertise taught me how to develop a manuscript; Philip Rowland, thank you for my website and for your enthusiastic support; and to Tessa and Andrew Farnsworth, Sheila Weber, Fred Newman, and Earle and Carol Mack, thank you.

Reading Group Guide

THE TRAITOR’S WIFE

A Novel

Allison Pataki

Introduction

When turncoat Benedict Arnold aided the British during the Revolutionary War, he wasn’t acting alone. Orchestrating the espionage was his spouse, the beautiful socialite Peggy Shippen, whose treachery nearly cost the fledgling nation its fight for freedom. In
The Traitor’s Wife
, Allison Pataki brings to life an intriguing slice of American history, told from the perspective of Peggy’s lady’s maid, Clara Bell, who must decide where her own loyalties lie.

Topics and Questions for Discussion

1. Before moving to Philadelphia, Clara spent her entire life on a farm in the Pennsylvania countryside. How does Clara’s identity evolve throughout her years of service to Peggy and Benedict Arnold? What character traits does Clara retain? Discuss which characters have the greatest impact on Clara’s growth and development.

2. Why does Clara take a nearly instant dislike to Major John André? Why is she relieved when Judge and Mrs. Shippen refuse to allow Peggy to attend the Meshianza Masque? Compare the way André treats Peggy with how Caleb treats Clara.

3. Clara is flattered at
“having so quickly become her lady’s confidante and friend”
. Does Peggy sincerely consider Clara a friend, or is Clara misreading her mistress? Why does Clara so desperately crave Peggy’s approval, and even friendship? At what point does this begin to shift?

4. Discuss the theme of loyalty in the novel. What drives the different characters’ allegiances? Who is the most loyal character?

5. 
“I hate the man, and I always will,”
says Peggy of Benedict Arnold. Why then does she begin pursuing him the first time they meet? Does she truly come to care about him, or is it all an act?

6. What is your view of Benedict Arnold? Trace his evolution from ardent patriot to turncoat. Do you think he would have committed treason without Peggy’s influence? Why or why not? Discuss both his and Peggy’s motivations for aiding the British.

7. 
“My husband knows how to win on the battlefield. It’s all brute strength and fighting. But spy work is different—it requires poise, and self-control, and grace. It’s like a delicate dance. And if anyone knows how to dance, it’s me,”
says Peggy. Which traits make Peggy better suited for espionage than Arnold? Why does the couple freely discuss their plans in front of Clara? Is it because they trust her not to reveal their secrets or, as Clara believes, because they find her invisible?

8. When Arnold’s treachery is revealed, he immediately flees and leaves Peggy behind. Given the circumstances, are his actions justifiable in any way? Why doesn’t Peggy hold it against him? Share whether or not you were surprised that Peggy was able to so easily convince George Washington and his companions of her innocence.

9. Does Clara intentionally or unintentionally help the Arnolds commit treason by cracking André’s code and translating the clandestine correspondence? Does her role make Clara partly to blame? What would you have done if you were in her position?

10. At one point in the story, Clara laments that she is not the master of her own fate. How do she and Caleb take charge of their future, both individually and as a couple? Discuss Clara’s warring emotions of impotency and desperation to intervene in the Arnolds’ plot.

11. When Clara confides in Mrs. Quigley about the Arnolds’ plotting, why is the older woman so quick to dismiss her claims? When Mrs. Quigley later understands exactly what’s happening, why does she still advise against Clara and Caleb taking action to stop the Arnolds? Explore how Mrs. Quigley’s response to the news differs from Caleb’s response to the news. Does either of them understand Clara’s position and perspective?

12. Examine the character of George Washington. Why does the novel open on the morning of his visit? What does George Washington mean to Benedict Arnold? To Peggy Arnold? To the servants like Hannah, Caleb, Clara, or the Quigleys? Discuss whether George Washington’s disapproval was the impetus for Arnold to agree to treason.

13. How does Clara use tactics she learned from observing her mistress to achieve her freedom from Peggy? What gives Clara the strength and courage to stand up to the imposing Peggy? Would Clara actually have reported Peggy’s guilt, or was it a bluff?

14. When news comes that Arnold successfully escaped, why is Clara relieved he won’t hang for his crimes? Why does she promise to keep quiet about Peggy’s role in the plot?

15. In what ways did
The Traitor’s Wife
give you new insights into the Revolutionary War? What, if anything, did you learn that surprised you?

A Conversation with Allison Pataki

Q: It seems remarkable that one woman might have come so close to single-handedly turning the tide of the Revolutionary War. Why do you suppose Peggy’s part in the treasonous plot didn’t come to light sooner?

A: My thoughts exactly! And why don’t more people know about the role Peggy Arnold played in her husband’s life and career? That was how I felt when I came across the story, and that’s been the consistent reaction I’ve gotten as I’ve told people about
The Traitor’s Wife.
People find it hard to believe the story is true, because if it was, why hadn’t they heard about it?

According to Arnold biographers, people didn’t learn of Peggy’s role in the plot until the nineteenth century, after all of the principle players in the plot were deceased. Apparently Aaron Burr (the man responsible for Alexander Hamilton’s death—of all people!) confessed what he knew of Peggy’s role on his deathbed, based on Peggy’s own confessions while she was alive. Whether or not the Burr deathbed confession is credible (though many historians have debated that point and assert that it is), there is plenty of other proof of her involvement. The New York Public Library has letters exchanged between Arnold and André, on which you can see Peggy’s handwriting. And, how else would her former suitor have come into contact with her husband?

I think Peggy understood and skillfully harnessed the belief of the time—the flawed supposition that women were much less intelligent or capable than men. Boy, did she use that to her advantage!

Q: As an epigraph to
The Traitor’s Wife
you selected a quotation by Lady Macbeth, and another from Benedict Arnold’s own letter. Why did you select these quotations?

A: I love epigraphs and I’m always intrigued by which quotations writers choose to begin their books with, and why. The Lady Macbeth quotation was on my mind from the beginning. I went back and reread
Macbeth
before I began writing
The Traitor’s Wife
because I wanted to revisit some of the themes of the play. I especially wanted to read Lady Macbeth’s speeches to her husband. Lady Macbeth is literature’s consummate double-dealer. She charms the men and welcomes them into her home, all the while she’s whispering into her husband’s ear to kill the king and take his crown. She uses soft, beautiful words to incite gruesome and treacherous actions.

I was intrigued by the similarities between Lady Macbeth’s style and how Peggy Arnold enacted her plot. Peggy, like Lady Macbeth, believed in her husband. She felt that he had been denied the glory he deserved. She was patient and strategic and bitter and ruthless. She knew how to charm and coax and manipulate people with her words. And she welcomed the leader, George Washington, into her home with a smile, all the while intending to betray him and quite possibly cost him his life.

The whole thing just felt so Shakespearean, with all the plotting, the human foibles, and the drama. I kept telling people as I was working on it: the Arnolds’ story is so salacious, you really cannot make this stuff up! And it’s true. One difference, however, is that Lady Macbeth gets her comeuppance in the end, whereas Peggy Shippen Arnold makes it out unscathed. Maybe Peggy was the greater wit, even more cunning than Lady Macbeth!

And then the Benedict Arnold quotation just makes me sad every time I read it. In that letter, you are seeing Arnold attempt to exculpate himself in the hours after his plot had failed. He wrote it knowing that all ties to the country he had once served and loved were irreparably severed. Knowing that his greatest hero, George Washington, now wished him dead. It’s tough to imagine how Arnold must have felt while writing that letter. Did he truly believe that what he had done had been in the best interest of the country, or was he simply making a justification? And, if it
was
just a justification, to whom was he speaking? To himself? To Washington? To history and the crafters of his legacy? It’s hard to know. But I do think it’s true what he says—that the world “
very seldom judge(s) right of any man’s actions.
” The truth is always more complicated than it appears.

Q: Peggy and Clara are on opposite ends of the social spectrum, one born into a wealthy family and the other a servant and orphan. Did you find it challenging, energizing, or both to write about these two very different main characters?

A: I found it exciting. It was fun to explore the ways in which these two women, with their different resources and perspectives, would have navigated the events into which they were thrust. In some ways, Clara and Peggy are similar. They are both young women of pretty much the same age (Peggy is one year older). Both of their fates are inextricably tied to the fate of not only the Arnold family, but also the new country. They resemble one another physically. Look how easy it is for Clara to masquerade as Peggy’s sister once she has the right hairdo and the right dress.

And yet they occupy completely different worlds. Clara begins the novel as a naïve, friendless servant who has never known anyone so sophisticated and worldly and charming. Clara has never had fancy dresses, or gentleman suitors, or even her own bed. That is why, at first, Clara is so enamored of Peggy Shippen. Clara’s new mistress is this popular, witty, fashionable force who has all of Philadelphia society at her feet, and Peggy not only wants Clara to work for her, but seems to want Clara as a
friend.
Clara is, in her own way, just as seduced by Peggy as many of the other characters in the novel are. Given the social and economic disparities between the two of them, it’s clear why Clara becomes pretty much entirely dependent on Peggy.