Elizabeth Loring Slept Here (A Novel)

An intimate, revelatory novel about a notorious woman at the center of the American Revolution.

During the war for independence, Elizabeth Loring rose to infamy as the American mistress of William Howe, the British general who failed repeatedly to stamp out George Washington’s rebellion. Critics blamed Howe’s lapses on the decadent hours he shared with Betsey. She’s been a punchline in history books ever since—until now.

In Elizabeth Loring Slept Here, Betsey finally tells her side of the story. Just twenty-two years old at the start of the war, Betsey has a life full of promise: a secure marriage, a trio of children, a place among the colonial elite. But when rebellion ignites, her world cracks open. Neighbors turn on neighbors. Families divide. Class and racial barriers shift. Betsey finds herself torn between two sides of a brutal conflict. Her husband is loyal to the Crown, but across enemy lines there are people Betsey can’t forget: her first love, now a leading Patriot; her tender, tormented uncle; and a daring female cousin who will join Washington’s Culper Spy Ring. In a war this closely contested, where Betsey chooses to stand (and lie) could determine not only her family’s fate, but the future of a nation.

Impeccably researched and beautifully written, Elizabeth Loring Slept Here reclaims a woman’s history that has been reduced to scandal and invites us to see the Revolution through her eyes. Relaying the untold dramas of parlors, nurseries, kitchens, and bedchambers, the novel offers a poignant take on a defining moment in America’s history.