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Summary
Summary
Benjamin Frankiln's Bastard by Sally Cabot is an absorbing and compelling work of literary historical fiction that brings to life a little-known chapter of the American Revolution -- the story of Benjamin Franklin and his bastard son, and the women who loved them both.
William Franklin, the son of Benjamin and his favorite mistress, Anne, is raised by Deborah, Benjamin's wife. A steadfast loyalist, he and his father cannot reconcile their wildly disparate views, causing a rift in the bond both thought unbreakable.
Fascinating and heartbreaking, Benjamin Franklin's Bastard is a gripping tale of family, love, and war, set against one of America's most fascinating periods of history.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
An enticing read for history buffs, Cabot's novel fluidly captures the changing political climate of 18th-century Philadelphia and its star, "the brilliant, entertaining, and innovative" Benjamin Franklin. Relying on his considerable charm, the up-and-coming Franklin woos the two "malleable women" of his life: Deborah Read (who eventually becomes his lawful wife) and Anne, a tavern girl-turned-prostitute who bears Franklin's illegitimate son, William. Cabot's novel becomes genuinely heart-wrenching when Franklin, disavowing a "youthful affinity for low women," convinces Anne to give up William and asks Deborah to raise him as their own. Her decision to accept William marks the beginning of a decades-long struggle between her husband, his illegitimate son, and William's mysterious birth mother. Two-parts soap opera, one-part history lesson, Cabot's novel swiftly chronicles Franklin's political rise and William's privileged but troubled upbringing. Yet it's Anne who emerges as the most compelling and complex character. Cabot, an avid participant in her Massachusetts town's local historical society, culls letters, historical records, and rumors of the time to bring to life the plucky and devoted mother of Franklin's bastard, whose real identity remains unknown. The worthwhile theme of Anne's separate journey for happiness and legitimacy receives too little space in this otherwise satisfying period piece. Agent: Kris Dahl, ICM. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Cabot debuts by bringing to life Ben Franklin's wife, lover and illegitimate son. History doesn't identify William Franklin's mother, but Cabot imagines a strong, courageous and intelligent woman named Anne, a refugee from ragtag Eades Alley in pre-Revolutionary Philadelphia. Anne works at Penny Pot Tavern, there meeting the charming, young Ben Franklin, up-and-coming citizen and publisher of the Philadelphia Gazette. Young Ben beds Deborah Read, a tradesman's daughter, but is denied permission to marry. He travels to England. "I am unlikely to return to Philadelphia anytime soon," Ben writes, and so Deborah marries a scoundrel and leaves him. Ben returns, prospers and charms Penny Pot's Anne. That he offers her money for her desperate family seems irrelevant. Anne's soon pregnant, but Ben reconnects with Deborah, taking her as a common-law wife. Realizing her sexuality offers money, and power, Anne entertains other men. Ben learns of William's birth and persuades Anne to give him up, although unbeknownst to Deborah, Anne later maneuvers Ben to become William's nanny for a short period, an affair ending badly. Lifelong tension burns between Deborah and William, exacerbated when Francis, Ben and Deborah's son, dies of smallpox. Cabot defines colonial Philadelphia believably, captivating with her perception of Franklin as charming, intellectual and driven. This early narrative enthralls, but it makes an abrupt switch in focus as William reaches adulthood. Ben travels to England as colonial emissary. Deborah refuses to go along, but William agrees. Ben, "monogamous but not celibate," invites Anne, but she balks. The Franklins return, with William appointed New Jersey's royal governor. The narrative then follows the fatherson conflict over William's loyalty to the king and Ben's support of revolution, with Anne's story fading into the background. Cabot shines in her descriptions of colonial life, in her fictionalized rendition of Ben Franklin's charismatic personality and wide-ranging intellect, but especially in interpreting Franklin the man through Anne, a fully-realized, memorable character. It is Anne who brings imagined reality's magic to the narrative. Intriguing historical fiction; a laudable interpretation of colonial life.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Genial Founding Father and revered statesman Benjamin Franklin was a man of large appetites, and this affecting first novel fictionalizes a little-known story. Anne is a young servant girl in a tavern who is lured into prostitution by a charming young Benjamin Franklin. When she becomes pregnant with their child, he talks her into giving the baby up so that he might have a chance for a respectable life. But Benjamin's wife, asked to raise the bastard child, William, as her own, struggles with suspicions of her husband's infidelity, especially when they lose their own child to smallpox. Forever seeking the affections of his stepmother and the approval of his father, William finally comes into his own but lands on the wrong side of history and becomes locked in a bitter feud with his father over the Revolution. Cabot laces her assured novel with Shakespearean overtones as the characters continually misconstrue one another's motives. From Franklin's intense intellectual curiosity to Anne's stubborn insistence on leading an independent life, this memorable cast makes for spellbinding reading.--Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
This debut novel would have been more aptly titled "Benjamin Franklin's Consorts," as this is the Founding Father's life as it intersected with Deborah, his real common-law wife, and the author-concocted Anne, mother of his only surviving son, William. The boy is raised never knowing his birth mother and disliked by his adoptive parent. But he grows up in the image and ways of his father until the time of the American Revolution, when the two have an irreparable break. We experience this through Deborah and Anne mainly: Deborah always insecure with the gallivanting and never-committing Franklin, and Anne, the inquisitive and imaginative whore who was perhaps the real soul mate. Cabot leads us to question the psychological impact on William of his lifelong attempt to legitimize his status in the eyes of his parents and the community. Was he a "bastard" by birth, because of his upbringing, or because he was the last royal governor of New Jersey? VERDICT A pleasant read, with insights into the status of women in Colonial times, and of interest to lovers of the era, especially of that scamp Benjamin. [See Prepub Alert, 11/19/12.]-W. Keith McCoy, Somerset Cty. Lib. Syst., Bridgewater, NJ (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
