Abigail Accused steps into life in the Puritan village of Andover and reveals the callous truth of what has become one of many landmark cases against injustice during the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail Dane Faulkner, daughter of the town¿s respected minister, was convicted of witchcraft in 1692 and condemned to die. Her story is based on eye-witness accounts and 17th century documents. How did the people of Massachusetts Bay Colony become victims of the fear and religious fanaticism that led to the arrests of nearly 200 citizens and the executions of 20 innocents? Why did Abigail's own family¿her own daughters¿testify against her? Mofford brings to life the dramatic realities of the period and the events of daily life along with events such as courtship, marriage, the sin of fornication, childbirth, poverty, and terrifying attacks by Native Americans upon this frontier community. Abigail¿s abiding love for her husband, Francis Faulkner, sustained him through bouts of what we recognize today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.Abigail Accused is the historical revelation of how one wife and mother, alongside her minister father, fought bigotry and helped bring an end to the deadly witch hunts. Petitions by father and daughter are landmark documents of free speech and remind us all of the ongoing struggle for human rights.

1774: Ten weeks after the Boston Tea Party. Abigail Adams, wife of attorney John Adams, who is deeply involved with the Sons of Liberty—a secret organization opposing the Crown—remains as committed to the cause as her husband. And the arrest of one of the Sons comes as a shock to both of them. Because it isn’t for treason—it’s for murder . . . The accused is young Henry Knox; the victim, a royal representative to the colonial court. Rumors begin swirling—did the murder indeed arise from the competition between the two for the affections of the daughter of a prominent Loyalist, or was it politically motivated? Abigail and John believe Knox to be innocent, despite the strong evidence against him. While John works to clear his client’s name, Abigail begins her own investigation. But as she pursues the truth, the killer pursues her—threatening not only Abigail but her vulnerable family . . .

1773: The Massachusetts colony is torn between patriots who want independence from British rule and loyalists who support the King. At the center is the educated and beautiful Abigail Adams-wife of John Adams, a leader of the Sons of Liberty, the secret organization opposing the Crown. And when her husband is accused of murder, she must work to clear his name.

Transcribing the journal entries of a victim of the Salem witch trials, Lauren realizes that the secrets of Mercy's story extend beyond the pages of her diary, and forces her to take a startling new look at her own life.

For readers of the historical works of Robert K. Massie, David McCulough, and Alison Weir comes the first biography on the life of Abigail Adams and her sisters. “Never sisters loved each other better than we.”—Abigail Adams in a letter to her sister Mary, June 1776 Much has been written about the enduring marriage of President John Adams and his wife, Abigail. But few know of the equally strong bond Abigail shared with her sisters, Mary Cranch and Elizabeth Shaw Peabody, accomplished women in their own right. Now acclaimed biographer Diane Jacobs reveals their moving story, which unfolds against the stunning backdrop of America in its transformative colonial years. Abigail, Mary, and Elizabeth Smith grew up in Weymouth, Massachusetts, the close-knit daughters of a minister and his wife. When the sisters moved away from one another, they relied on near-constant letters—from what John Adams called their “elegant pen”—to buoy them through pregnancies, illnesses, grief, political upheaval, and, for Abigail, life in the White House. Infusing her writing with rich historical perspective and detail, Jacobs offers fascinating insight into these progressive women’s lives: oldest sister Mary, who became de facto mayor of her small village; youngest sister Betsy, an aspiring writer who, along with her husband, founded the second coeducational school in the United States; and middle child Abigail, who years before becoming First Lady ran the family farm while her husband served in the Continental Congress, first in Philadelphia, and was then sent to France and England, where she joined him at last. This engaging narrative traces the sisters’ lives from their childhood sibling rivalries to their eyewitness roles during the American Revolution and their adulthood as outspoken wives and mothers. They were women ahead of their time who believed in intellectual and educational equality between the sexes. Drawing from newly discovered correspondence, never-before-published diaries, and archival research, Dear Abigail is a fascinating front-row seat to history—and to the lives of three exceptional women who were influential during a time when our nation’s democracy was just taking hold. Advance praise for Dear Abigail “In a beautifully wrought narrative, Diane Jacobs has brought the high-spirited, hyperarticulate Smith sisters, and the early years of the American republic, to rich, luminous life. . . . A stunning, sensitive work of history.”—Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Cleopatra “Jacobs is a superb storyteller. In this sweeping narrative about family and friendship during the American Revolution, Abigail Adams emerges as one of the great political heroines of the eighteenth century. I fell in love with her all over again.”—Amanda Foreman, New York Times bestselling author of A World on Fire “Beauty, brains, and breeding—Elizabeth, Abigail, and Mary had them all. This absorbing history shows how these close-knit and well-educated daughters of colonial America become women of influence in the newly begotten United States. Jacobs’s feel for the period is confident; so is her appreciation of the nuances of character.”—Daniel Mark Epstein, author of The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage

Tells the story of the victims, the accused witches, and the scheming officials that turned a mysterious illness into a witch hunt.