They needed a job. After arriving from England and making a new life on Long Island, Abigail Trench and her father were forced to move to New York City three years later. A Redcoat had entered their house and confiscated all of their animals so they were not able to keep their farm. What else he did to Abigail was something she couldn't think about, much less tell her father.
It was now July 1776 and the pair found lodging but their money was dwindling. Abigail was a teacher, and while her father found work on the docks, she went to the New York schools to obtain a position but no one was hiring. A sympathetic teacher was not able to employ her, but gave a suggestion-ask at the rich Wall Street homes if any families required a tutor.
There was unrest in the city. Colonists and Redcoats were sitting on a powderkeg after the Declaration of Independence was published. The Redcoats were outnumbered but many ships were gathering out in the harbor, all flying the Union Jack. Abigail witnessed a hanging, the first of many. The house of colonial sympathizers where she finally got a job was being vacated and luckily the Redcoat family leasing the house also had children and needed a tutor. Now she was working for the enemy.
She met Robert Townsend when blocks of the city were burning, and they were able to work together to rescue some of the citizens. He owned a store and also wrote a column in a British publication. As the two became close, Robert dropped his hesitancy and revealed that he was an agent in the Culper Spy Ring, commissioned by General Washington to keep an eye on British war plans. Despondent over the violence and cruelty wreaked by the occupying army, Abigail begs to join the Ring too, and points out how well placed she is to aid the cause. Her employer, an Army major, has many guests in his house who discuss strategies and battles, and she overhears their conversations while instructing the children. Townsend reluctantly agrees.
The true history of the Culper Ring is almost as unbelievable as this fictional story, and is just as exciting. Used as the basis of many novels, histories and the AMC series Turn, it is an amazing part of the Revolutionary War, especially in the New York and Long Island areas. Abigail Trench explores the identity of the agent "355" rumored to be a woman and Robert Townsend's common-law wife. The author seamlessly weaves the fictional character of Abigail into the scanty facts of what really happened and the results are fascinating. This is a book club must, especially as it is to be released a month before the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Like all well written historical novels, Abigail Trench will propel the reader to review historical and archival records in search of what was true and what was artistic license. Let the fireworks begin!
Reviewed by Donna Ballard
June 9, 2026
Reserve a physical copy - Coming soon
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