The Sewing Girl's Tale

A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America

By: John Wood Sweet

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

New York Times Editors’ Choice
Winner of the Bancroft Prize
Winner of the New York Society Library's New York City Book Award

A riveting Revolutionary Era drama of the first published rape trial in American history and its long, shattering aftermath, revealing how much has changed over two centuries—and how much has not

On a moonless night in the summer of 1793 a crime was committed in the back room of a New York brothel—the kind of crime that even victims usually kept secret. Instead, seventeen-year-old seamstress Lanah Sawyer did what virtually no one in US history had done before: she charged a gentleman with rape.

Her accusation sparked a raw courtroom drama and a relentless struggle for vindication that threatened both Lanah’s and her assailant’s lives. The trial exposed a predatory sexual underworld, sparked riots in the streets, and ignited a vigorous debate about class privilege and sexual double standards. The ongoing conflict attracted the nation’s top lawyers, including Alexander Hamilton, and shaped the development of American law. The crime and its consequences became a kind of parable about the power of seduction and the limits of justice. Eventually, Lanah Sawyer did succeed in holding her assailant accountable—but at a terrible cost to herself.

Based on rigorous historical detective work, this book takes us from a chance encounter in the street into the sanctuaries of the city’s elite, the shadows of its brothels, and the despair of its debtors’ prison. The Sewing Girl's Tale shows that if our laws and our culture were changed by a persistent young woman and the power of words two hundred years ago, they can be changed again.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Co.

©2022 John Sweet (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Excellent

An excellent immersive history of a young woman’s rape, it’s aftermath and consequences in 1793 New York City.

The difference between a man and woman.

The difference between a man and woman. Our world has changed. Hopefully. We have come a long way in USA.

victorian true crime

great researched work on a victorian rape, and how the social norms of the time influenced the outcome and so much more.

Historical account

A great historical account of the rape of a young girl and the legal pathways that were pursued.
Very thoroughly researched.

Excellent

the reviews about this being inaccessible are unfair. it is written plainly and gives great insights into both the legal imagination and process of the period and into general gender issues of the period. well worth the time