The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell: A Novel

by William Klaber

Overview

At a time when women did not commonly travel unescorted, carry a rifle, sit down in bars, or have romantic liaisons with other women, Lucy Lobdell boldly set forth to earn men's wages. Lucy Lobdell did all of these things in a personal quest to work and be paid, to wear what she wanted, and love whomever she cared to. But to gain those freedoms she had to endure public scorn and wrestle with a sexual identity whose vocabulary had yet to be invented. In this riveting historical novel set in upstate New York in the 19th century, William Klaber captures the life of a brave woman who saw well beyond her era.

The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell is the fictionalized account of Lucy's foray into the world of men and her inward journey to a new sexual identity. It is her promised memoir as hear and recorded a century later by William Klaber, an upstream neighbor. Meticulously researched and told with compassion and respect, this is historical fiction at its best.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250087201
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/23/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

William Klaber is a part-time journalist. He lives in upstate New York on a hill overlooking Basket Creek, a short way upstream from where Lucy Lobdell lived 160 years ago.

William is the coauthor of Shadow Play: The Murder of Robert F. Kennedy and author of the novel The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell.

Editorial Reviews

In THE REBELLION OF MISS LUCY ANN LOBDELL,William Klaber takes us on high-spirited journey of joy and hardship through a 19th century America that few of us could have ever imagined. Lucy Lobdell seems destined to live out a life of adventure from the moment she crosses over into a forbidden and secret world. Beautifully told, by the time I finished I felt I knew not only Lucy, but had a far better understanding of the America of her times. A first class novel about an truly unforgettable woman.” —Robert Hicks, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of the South and A Separate Country

“William Klaber has created a complicated and heartbreaking heroine, or do I mean hero? Whether Lucy is living as a man or a woman, working as a music teacher or a hired gun, I was utterly absorbed in her adventures. A wonderful debut.” —Margot Livesey, author of The House on Fortune Street and The Flight of Gemma Hardy

“A superb novel. I feel as if I have walked through 19th century America at Lucy's side, celebrated and grieved with her. Klaber tells the story of her adventures with grace and invisible artistry. This is beautiful retelling of a remarkable story, and a fitting tribute to its subject.” —Imogen Robertson, author of The Paris Winter

“So dead-on it's uncanny . . . an early contender for the year's 'best' lists.” —Booklist, starred review

From the Publisher

In THE REBELLION OF MISS LUCY ANN LOBDELL,William Klaber takes us on high-spirited journey of joy and hardship through a 19th century America that few of us could have ever imagined. Lucy Lobdell seems destined to live out a life of adventure from the moment she crosses over into a forbidden and secret world. Beautifully told, by the time I finished I felt I knew not only Lucy, but had a far better understanding of the America of her times. A first class novel about an truly unforgettable woman.

New York Times bestselling author of The Widow of Robert Hicks

There are only two basic plots in fiction, writers occasionally say: "Somebody goes on a journey" and, the other side of the coin, "A stranger comes to town." Brilliantly, William Klaber has managed to combine them. In this deeply satisfying historical novel, he recreates the voice of Lucy Ann Lobdell, a real mid-19th-century New York woman who abandoned her young daughter and set out—dressed and passing as a man—to find the independence (and money) denied her as a woman…Lucy Lobdell is well known to scholars in gender and queer studies…But in academia the human reality of her personality can vanish behind a fog of jargon. By contrast, Klaber begins with a sad, beautiful, poetic image that captures perfectly Lucy's evanescent, impermanent identity…At every stage such images illuminate and animate her world.

The New York Times Book Review - Max Byrd

★ 02/15/2015
Making his fiction debut (originally self-published in 2013), journalist Klaber (Shadow Play) has cleverly constructed a wonderful story of the very real Lucy Ann Lobdell, a headstrong, free-thinking 19th-century woman who was very much ahead of her time. Drawing on the research of New York historian Jack Niflot, the narrative follows Lobdell on her adventures as she struggles to define herself in a man's world and to reinvent her own sexual identity. Klaber divides the book into three sections: Lobdell's stint in Bethany, PA, as a music teacher; her time in the Minnesota wilderness dealing with unbearable cold and living among Native Americans; and her years traveling through various parts of Delaware and Pennsylvania. VERDICT Covering the same period as Laird Hunt's Neverhome and Kathy and Becky Hepinstall's Sisters of Shiloh, this novel is similar to both titles in terms of exploring a woman's journey of self-discovery in a time when women had little freedom or rights. This is an important book that will take its rightful place in the annals of quality historical fiction.—Mariel Pachucki, Maple Valley, WA

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