Starting from Seneca Falls by Karen Schwabach (review)

Bridie, an orphaned Irish immigrant, has been sent from the poorhouse to the Kigley farm in upstate New York, where the owner temporarily turns his anger and abuse from his wife and daughter to his new hired hand. She runs away to Seneca Falls, where she meets Rose, the daughter of a missing free Black whaler. Rose occasionally works for Mrs. Stanton in town and suggests Bridie assume the alias “Phoebe” and ask for a position. She arrives at a good time, since Mrs. Stanton—yes, Elizabeth Cady—has her hands full with rambunctious sons, a husband perpetually on the road, and laying plans with Mrs. Mott—yes, Lucretia—for an upcoming women’s rights meeting in their own town. Lines between fiction and fact are blurred, but historical notes do provide some disambiguation in this story of the historical 1848 meeting. Historical fiction fans drawn to period details and bygone folkways, however, will be pleased with the subplots centered around poorhouses, print shops, boarding houses, canal boats, women’s wage laws, and indenture. They will also appreciate the overlapping challenges of tweens Rose and Bridie as they deal with broader issues of racism and anti-immigrant discrimination.