Mostly Murders

“A recipe for girls who feel voiceless: Add one dash of revenge to an ounce of spite. Agitate until it turns into hope.”

In 1794, the moniker Tom the Tinker was used by opponents of the newly instituted whiskey tax that led to the Whiskey Rebellion. In Tinker, Jennifer M. Lane delivers her take on Tom the Tinker: Caroline Neville, daughter of the Pittsburgh tax collector responsible for enforcing the whiskey tax, writing under a male pseudonym after having her writing rejected as emotional effluence by the male editor of the Gazette newspaper.

But deception comes at a cost. Caroline resents her father’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge the devastating effects of the whiskey tax on his own neighbours, and is embittered by her parents’ constant attempts to get her to marry and behave in a proper, ladylike manner. She wants nothing to do with the Neville family name, and because of that, she simply introduces herself as Caroline when she meets Tench who works at the Gazette. Before long the two of them fall in love, leaving Caroline with the agonising dilemma of having to tell Tench who she really is, a Neville and the brain behind Tom the Tinker.

A lot of history is focussed on the grand deeds of men. In Tinker, we have a representation of a chapter of early American history as it was experienced and felt by a woman whose contributions had to remain anonymous, not because of her views, but because no one would have taken her writings seriously if they had known her gender.

Caroline Neville is a fictional character. But her story reflects the story of many real women throughout history who had to choose between safety or influence and acceptance or self-sufficiency. If you like historical fiction filled with drama, romance and strong, independent women defying conventions attempting to silence them, try out Tinker and follow Caroline Neville as she fights for freedom, justice and love.

Historical fiction