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The Power to Deny: A Woman of the Revolution Novel

Wendy Long Stanley (Goodreads Author)

4.81 · Rating details · 16 ratings · 11 reviews

Young and brilliant poet Elizabeth Graeme comes of age in colonial Philadelphia bearing an exceptional talent for writing and an unwillingness to be like all the other young women around her.
After a successful trip to England and an audience with the king, the sudden death of her mother and two failed romances leave Elizabeth reeling. Back in Philadelphia, she uses her li ...more

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Kindle Edition, 449 pages

Published November 22nd 2019 by Carmenta Publishing

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Jan 18, 2020 P.K. Adams rated it it was amazing

The Power to Deny introduces the reader to one of the forgotten figures of the late colonial and revolutionary America. Elizabeth Graeme was a Philadelphia socialite and a poet in her own right who was friends with, and admired by, many in her day, including some of the men who went on to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Raised in the home of an affluent and well-connect physician father, Elizabeth seemingly had a bright future before her. She became engaged to the son of Benjamin Franklin, The Power to Deny introduces the reader to one of the forgotten figures of the late colonial and revolutionary America. Elizabeth Graeme was a Philadelphia socialite and a poet in her own right who was friends with, and admired by, many in her day, including some of the men who went on to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Raised in the home of an affluent and well-connect physician father, Elizabeth seemingly had a bright future before her. She became engaged to the son of Benjamin Franklin, William. After the engagement was broken off, Elizabeth went on a tour of Great Britain and returned to the colonies to find them in the throes of a revolutionary fever. Soon, British and colonial forces were facing one another on battlefields, and families, including Elizabeth's, become bitterly divided between loyalist and patriots.

One by one, Elizabeth's sisters and parents pass away, and her comfortable life in Philadelphia and the country estate at Graeme Park recedes into the past. On impulse, Elizabeth, who is a patriot, marries a handsome Scot, Henry Fergusson, who is a staunch loyalist. Because under the law, a wife's property became that of her husband, Fergusson's intransigent stance almost costs Elizabeth her patrimony. She barely manages to hold on to the Graeme Park as her husband flees to England, never to return to her again.

Through the trails and tribulations of her life, Elizabeth Graeme was sustained by her art, her connection to other women, and the spirit of independence that was frowned upon during that era. In some ways, her story reminded me of the fictional protagonist of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with The Wind - a woman who experiences great loss and bitter disillusionment, but refuses to be cowed or broken by adversity.

The Power to Deny is superbly researched, with rich historical detail that brings to life the last decades of colonial America in a way I have not seen in a long time. I highly recommend it to lovers of American history and fans of strong women in historical narratives. ...more

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Jan 20, 2020 Lars rated it it was amazing

A truly marvelous story of a truly remarkable woman

Graeme Park figures large in my own family's Revolutionary history, so it was with great excitement that I seized upon this novel that promised to fill in some of the blanks.

My interest had been richly rewarded. Elizabeth Graeme springs from the pages of this book, lively and lovely and shimmering with brilliance.

Many novels of the Revolution suffer from the tendency to name drop the most well- known figures of the era; Graeme's place in Phila ...more

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Jan 13, 2020 Robin Stanley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-stars, loved-loved-loved, pretty-cover, historical

I must confess that I really don't know much about American history. I had definitely never picked up a historical fiction novel set around the time of the American Revolution before, so I didn't really know what to expect. However, I was immediately hooked from the first page and all the context of what was going on with the Revolution was explained in such a way that I was never confused about what was happening or who someone was. I thought the personalities of the characters were fleshed out ...more

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Dec 27, 2019 Dlu rated it it was amazing

I think we’re at a very specific time in the history of women and how we are perceived and understood and treated in the world. And part of any such change process is to look backwards in history at the women who came before and how we might be standing on their shoulders. Wendy Long Stanley, in writing about Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, has written about a woman that has strengths and weaknesses like us all but lived them in an extraordinary time. This book made me think about my life as a woman ...more

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Nov 27, 2019 Mary-Lynn Psmyghth rated it it was amazing

Immediately pulls you into the room with the heroine through her eyes in her old age. Her grumpy humor and frankness brings to mind Hagar Shipley in The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence. Hints of who she was and who she loved and what she may have regretted make the pages turn. Then we get the story behind the loves and losses and possible regrets. Elizabeth was a real person - a poet - and author Wendy Long Stanley fills out her life’s story with color, sadness and at times great bawking humor. ...more

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May 17, 2020 Barbara Allen rated it it was amazing

This is an absorbing read, which reflects the author's meticulous research into the 18th century colonial and Revolutionary American historical context and the life of Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson, the main character. Graeme, an 18th century American writer, translator, and salon leader, comes to life in this historical novel. ...more

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Mar 18, 2020 Melodie Campbell rated it it was amazing

Highly compelling read. I was captivated by the voice of the protagonist, and her struggles to overcome the bonds placed on women of the time. The history is meticulous, stunning in its depth; I learned so much. A joy.

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Jan 11, 2020 Joanne Wilk rated it it was amazing

I loved this book. A page turner. It feels as though you are in the room with Elizabeth Graeme on the grounds of Graeme Park in Pennsylvania in the 1700s. The writing is exquisite. I highly recommend this novel.

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Nov 30, 2019 Linda Gordon rated it it was amazing

Great read.

As a lover of historical fiction I found this book to be one of the best I've read
Well researched and written. ...more

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Oct 27, 2020 Tonya Mitchell rated it it was amazing

A superbly-written, meticulously researched tale of a brilliant woman of the American Revolution!

I received an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I often wonder why I haven’t heard of a particular historical character when I happen upon a book about one who is unusual and heroic. Such was the case with this novel, The Power to Deny. The heroine, Elizabeth (Betsy) Graeme, was a brilliant poet, writer, and translator. She was well-educated and came from a well-to-do A superbly-written, meticulously researched tale of a brilliant woman of the American Revolution!

I received an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I often wonder why I haven’t heard of a particular historical character when I happen upon a book about one who is unusual and heroic. Such was the case with this novel, The Power to Deny. The heroine, Elizabeth (Betsy) Graeme, was a brilliant poet, writer, and translator. She was well-educated and came from a well-to-do family. She was known to many familiar men of her era: George Washington and Ben Franklin, to name a few. As the only survivor among her many siblings, she inherited a large ancestral country home and ran it well. The fact that she was a woman made these feats even more unusual, and she managed them all during the tumultuous times of the American Revolution when Philadelphians like herself were forced to make a choice: loyalty to Britain, or loyalty to the colonies. The choice couldn’t have been easy—either seems to have been treasonous to the other side and punishable by death. In Betsy, we have a woman whose strong predilections for truth and justice led her down a path that would destroy her city, her home, and saddest of all, the relationships she held so dear.

This book reminded me of how much I had forgotten about the American Revolution, and how much I never learned but should have. After I finished, I spent the next hour looking up the talented, fiery, intelligent Betsy Graeme online. Her country home that she loved so dearly, Graeme Park, managed to survive after being cruelly taken from her and later given back. I was happy to learn that it remains very much like it was nearly 3 centuries ago.

The author did a fine job of describing the facts leading up to the Revolution, and how Philadelphia was torn apart by the British Army when they arrived there. The turmoil of Betsy’s first love with William Franklin, Ben Franklin’s son, was excruciating to read. Years later, just when Betsy finds love again and decides to marry, the two are separated both by location and their loyalties to their respective homelands. I thoroughly enjoyable read. Superbly-written, meticulously researched, well-plotted, with an ending that will leave readers feeling both the significance and burden of Betsy’s remarkable life. Strongly recommended.
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Nov 24, 2020 Amber rated it it was amazing

The intense storyline of Elizabeth Graeme's life breeds endless emotion. As I read 'The Power To Deny' I could imagine myself in the height of Graeme Park at a social hour, on the streets of Philadelphia as a bustling new city, or quartering soldiers in my own childhood home. I could hardly put this book down as the story continuously picks up speed and just when you think something is about to go one way, it goes the other. I also want to point out the extremely important task that Stanley took ...more

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