My interest in Boston’s role in the Revolution dates back to the 1970s, when I lived on Bunker Hill. My apartment was on Monument Square, where the battle took place, and from my windows I could look across the harbor at the spire of Old North Church. At that time, I often worked on the restoration of old houses and buildings from Boston to Newburyport on the North Shore. When you work with timbers and clapboards and window sashes that date back to the eighteenth century, you develop an intimacy with the wood, and by extension, the people who first built such dwellings.

From that point on, I’ve been reading about the Revolution in Massachusetts and some years ago I began to encounter stories regarding the Lovell family of Boston. John Lovell was the schoolmaster at the Latin School, and when the Revolution began in 1775 his family, like so many Colonial families, was torn apart by their allegiances. John and his wife were loyalists, while their children were extremely active in the patriot cause. Some of history’s best stories are in the footnotes and several historians refer to the activities of the Lovell’s daughter, and it was from there that the character of Abigail Lovell began to take shape in my mind. Along with her brothers James and Benjamin, she made courageous sacrifices for her country and I hope The Schoolmaster’s Daughter does her justice.