Keene native Jane Hulse returns to the Revolution with 'Spanktown Papers'

Growing up in Keene, Jane Hulse did not have to travel far to encounter the American Revolution. She lived in a Colonial-era house, explored places connected to the region's Revolutionary history with her father and devoured historical books at the local library. Decades later, after a career spent working in newspapers, those childhood experiences have become part of the foundation for Hulse's own historical fiction. Her latest novel, "Spanktown Papers," takes readers away from New Hampshire and into British-occupied Philadelphia, following a young female journalist through murder, political turmoil and a largely forgotten episode involving the imprisonment and exile of Quaker pacifists. "I grew up near the college in a rambling house built around 1790. It had fireplaces in every room and wide floorboards," Hulse said. "My dad was fascinated by the colonial period and filled the house with antiques. My bed was a trundle bed. Even as a little girl, I was intrigued by the American Revolution. I went to the Keene library and read every one of the books in the 'Little Maid' series. All 13 books." That fascination eventually followed Hulse into a writing career of her own. A graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in journalism, Hulse worked for newspapers in Colorado, including the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, where she covered criminal trials and major breaking news. She later freelanced for the Los Angeles Times and worked as city editor at the Santa Barbara News-Press. Hulse now lives in Ventura, California, with her husband, journalist Steve Chawkins. But her fiction has repeatedly brought her back to the period that first caught her imagination in New Hampshire. "Spanktown Papers," published by Open Books, is the third installment in Hulse's Sarah Barrett American Revolution Series. Its protagonist is a young journalist attempting to make her way in a profession — and a society — largely controlled by men. "It follows my heroine Sarah Barrett, a brash, brave journalist who grew up in southern New Hampshire," Hulse said. "She lands in Philadelphia, working at a newspaper where she runs headlong into the saga of the Quaker exiles. Then the British swoop in and take the city. 'Spanktown Papers' has a love story, plot twists, betrayals, near-death experiences and a nice little murder." The novel is set against a turbulent chapter of the Revolution. Twenty Quaker pacifists were rounded up, imprisoned and ultimately banished from Philadelphia to Virginia amid suspicions surrounding their loyalties and their refusal to support the war for independence. The mysterious Spanktown Papers, which purported to raise questions about Quaker allegiance, become central to the novel's story. For Hulse, Philadelphia presented an opportunity to explore the Revolution beyond its most familiar battles and personalities. "I knew I wanted the third novel in the series to be set in Philadelphia, so I started researching what happened there during the war," she said. "I never knew that the British took command of the city for nine months. That, in itself, was fascinating, since Philadelphia is considered the heartbeat of the Revolution." British troops occupied Philadelphia beginning in 1777 after defeating Washington's forces at the Battle of Brandywine. The occupation placed one of the young country's most important cities at the center of competing loyalties and political tensions — fertile territory for a novelist interested in people whose experiences do not always fit neatly into the traditional story of the Revolution. Hulse's own childhood home stood across the street from the tavern where 29 Minutemen rallied before heading toward Lexington in 1775. Hulse also explored nearby caves with her father that had reportedly been used as hiding places by Loyalists driven from town. Those experiences helped spark her interest not only in the Revolution, but in people whose positions complicated the familiar Patriot-versus-British narrative. Sarah Barrett provides Hulse with another way of looking at the era from outside its traditional centers of power. "I'm always drawn to stories about strong women who do courageous things, especially at a time when women had few rights and were seldom allowed to work outside the home," Hulse said. In "Spanktown Papers," Sarah works at the fictional Philadelphia Weekly Sentinel while the British close in on the city. Her position places her in the middle of debates over the Quakers, the war and the meaning of loyalty. At the same time, her status as an unmarried woman pursuing journalism makes her something of an outsider herself. The overlap between Hulse and her protagonist is difficult to miss. Both are journalists, although separated by roughly two centuries. Hulse spent years reporting on crime and courts, including the 1981 shooting of President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr., who had ties to the Denver area. Hulse and eight colleagues left Santa Barbara News-Press during a dispute over its editorial practices. Her fictional journalist operates without modern protections or professional norms, in an era when merely entering spaces dominated by men could be an act of defiance. "My book has a couple of themes," Hulse said. "One is that strong, young women are capable of doing marvelously gutsy things. And when women band together, they are a hell of a force." Yet Hulse also uses Sarah's adventures to examine a more complicated question: what happens to individual rights when a country believes its survival is at stake? The Quaker exile at the heart of the novel gives that question historical weight. According to the book's publisher, the men were suspected of aiding the British during the Revolution, while their refusal to support the Patriot cause stemmed from Quaker pacifism. Hulse turns that conflict into both a mystery for Sarah to investigate and a vehicle for exploring the dangers of suspicion during wartime. "The other message is that the exile of the Quaker men is shameful in that it was a gross violation of their rights," Hulse said. "They were never charged with a crime or even given a hearing. It's a cautionary tale that sometimes has been ignored in American history. I believe it's relevant to the world today." That historical episode unfolds alongside the familiar elements of an adventure novel. After a coffeehouse proprietor is murdered, Sarah joins the investigation, raising questions about whether the Spanktown Papers contain evidence that Quakers cooperated with the British. The story also weaves in espionage, romance and the uncertainty of life in a city on the verge of British occupation. The result continues a series that has allowed Hulse to combine two subjects that have followed her for much of her life: journalism and the American Revolution. While Sarah Barrett's adventures have expanded from southern New Hampshire to New York and Philadelphia, the character's roots remain in the same region where Hulse first became fascinated by the Revolution. For Hulse, the Revolution was never entirely confined to history books. More than half a century later, she is still exploring it through the eyes of a young journalist determined to report what she sees.