A Little Maid of Province Town

The Little Maid's Historical Series #1

by Alice Turner Curtis

Life is full of adventure for little Anne Nelson who lives in a fishing village at the tip of Cape Cod in the days before the American Revolution . There are the wolves in the forest and the British man-of-war Somerset is in the bay. Worst of all, her father is lost at sea and the other children in Province Town say he is a British Spy . Then she gets the chance to help the rebels as the Revolution begins.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Historical, Childrens, American Revolution, Juvenile, Fiction, Adventure

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1910

About the author

Children's and young adult historical fiction author Alice Turner Curtis was born in Sullivan, Hancock County, Maine, USA. Her maiden name is Alice L. Turner. She is listed in the Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books. Her father was a sailmaker. She was married (in Boston on 20 May 1895) to Irving Curtis (18 Jan 1835 – 18 Nov 1910). Her parents (both born in Maine) were John Vinal Turner and Susan Ann Spear. Alice lived her life in Maine and Massachusetts (notably, in Boston). She had been in the literary profession since at least 1895 (with Marjorie's Way being her first known book, published in 1904).

Alice Turner Curtis is the author of "The Little Maid's Historical Series", originally published, during the period from 1910 to 1937. Reprinted by Knopf in the 1940's and 1950's with illustrations by Sandra James. Some books were reprinted by Applewood in the 1990's with the original illustrations. One book containing two original stories was printed by Derrydale Books in 1991. She is also known for the Grandpa's Little Girls series, The Yankee Girl Civil War Stories, the Frontier Girl series, The Little Heroine series, the Marjorie series, the Little Runnaways series, and other books.

Reviews

[Majenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spunky Anne Nelson, motherless and temporarily fatherless, is staying in the home of Captain Enos Stoddard and his wife Martha. Local children are calling her father a spy, and they act suspicious about her as well. Has her father really been lost at sea, or will they be reunited? 8-to-10ers with a taste for history will be eager to find out.

Something strange: As you might expect, people use "'twas" and "'tis." The strange part is, when it's the first word of a sentence, it ISN'T capitalized; when it's further on in the sentence, it IS! ("'tis true that 'Twas my error.") The opposite of what you'd expect, and it looks weird. But I'm reading these books on my Kindle; maybe the actual book version does this properly?

Overall, an enjoyable book. I hope it was popular and eagerly read when it was first published.

Thanks for reading.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free on Librivox and Project Gutenberg.

3.5 stars
I’d have loved this one a great deal while I was a kid obsessed with American history. It reads a bit like an American-girl style story with a girl needing to save the day during the Revolution. An enjoyable peep into Massachusetts history.

[🐶 Amy Beagle Mom x2 🐶 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this book. Obviously the target audience is kids, but my first exposure to the author and this book was just this week and I’ve been an adult for several decades. Lol
Just precious. I look forward to sharing this book (and hopefully others in the series) with my niece who is 7, and an advanced reader.
I listened to the audiobook via LibriVox. The narrator was excellent- thanks, Arielle Lipshaw.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading this series to my 94 year old mother who can't see to read herself. She loved these books as a child, and I too loved them.

[Lori]

I have been trying to remember who wrote this series for years. Fortunately, I did remember this title and that it was part of a series that seemed "ancient" back when I first discovered it about 1971. I loved anything to do with historical fiction when I was a kid. So, I read this entire series, along with Betsy, Tacy & Tib, Anne of Green Gables and, of course, the Laura Ingalls Wilder book

The child in me would have given this 4 stars at least!

But sometimes these older series do not move well with the times. I will have to preview this series to see how various groups are portrayed. I have no idea if stereotypes abound in this or if it is still fairly innocuous? I also do not recall if this series included heavy-handed religious dogma. Before I just plunge right in with my daughter, I'll need to grab one of these and re-read it.

Goodreads is a gold mine of information sometimes. I thought this series was lost to the fogs of time (and my faulty memory.) So fun to know that it is still floating around out in the book-o-sphere.

[Monsonhome · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book from the revelutionary time for young girls. My girls loved it, especially my oldest (6 yr old).

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Little Maid of Provincetown is a delightful little children's book set around the times of the American Revolution. After her father leaves her, Anne Nelson seeks shelter with the Stoddards, a happy-but-childless family. She soon adjusts to her new life, though she is unhappy that some of the other children in Provincetown tease her. There are children who say that her father, John Nelson, is a spy and a traitor. There are children who call Anne a beggar-child. But with the assurance of her new family--Enos and Martha Stoddard, she is secure and happy enough. Not that she believes the reports about her father. Not that she stops wanting him to come back to her. But she begins to be content with her new life, to like spending time with Brownie, the cow, and Martha, her wooden doll. She even makes friends with two of the children who teased her: Amanda and Amos Carey. But there are things happening around her that warn of danger: the British soldiers on their ships, etc. Anne knows that war could come sooner or later.

A Little Maid of Provincetown is a book with plenty of adventures. And some of the adventures involve more than hunting a missing cow. Anne is a spunky heroine who can get into mischief if not closely watched. She's brave and resourceful as well.

I liked this story.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very cute; short and sweet. Alice Turner Curtis wrote in the early 20th century, mostly books for children, about characters in the Revolutionary War or Civil War eras. This one is about a little girl in the years just before the Revolutionary War. It's very sweet, definitely a good "beginning reader" book.

[Anne Wehner]

Nice children's book for girls. Ages 8-10

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edition: https://librivox.org/a-little-maid-of...

Summary:

Anne Nelson begins the story as an eight-year old girl whose Mother had died at Ipswich; following that, her father (John Nelson) had been lost at sea. Anne finds herself in Province Town (I believe every city in the book is in Massachusetts), where some rumor that her father is a traitor (in league with the British). She is taken in by Martha and Captain Enos Stoddard—and while Martha welcomes her readily, she grows much on Enos over time after she shows spirit in defending her father's good name.

Anne sees a wolf at one point (and there is some commotion about it); the wolf does not seem to mind her, however.

Anne seems to look favorably upon a boy named Jimmy Starkweather (not in a romantic fashion), and they are friends.

Her father eventually secretly visits Anne in Province Town and tells her of his innocence. He departs, and later he is vindicated (but unable to come to Province Town). He joins the American soldiers in Wellfleet (after being a prisoner on a British ship, and escaping).

Anne is captured by native American women, but is rescued by some kind British folks (who we meet a number of times later; they save Anne more than once).

Anne knits and plays with her doll.

Anne's enemies (Amanda and Amos Cary) become her friends (when Amanda, gives her a white kitten and is remorseful for maligning her father, without knowing what the words she was saying meant—when she discovers her father's innocence), and they play and go on adventures.

Anne, Amanda, and Amos get shipwrecked (they lose an oar) in their boat (a dory) and spend some days on an island before Amos reveals he found an oar on the island soon after they got there (but he wanted to stay).

Anne aims to write her father a letter. She gets the idea to stowaway while her uncle Enos (meaning the aforementioned Captain Enos Stoddard) takes a risky business journey on his ship with a load of fish. She reveals herself when she is hungry, and he has to take her with him. However, she proves useful in delivering a secret message that has something to do with the war (and probably would have even had the British caught them in their ship). On their journey, Anne learns from two girls to curtsy, and in Boston, Anne meets the Freeman family (members of which were born in Wellfleet), and admires and emulates one of them called Rose. They return home safely after some concern that they might be captured by the British.

Anne brings home gifts from her journey for her friends.

They make molasses candy.

They make a maypole and celebrate.

Anne wants to go to Boston again and visit her father. Amos, Anne, and Amanda secretly take a ship, the sloop, Peggy (a ship with a sail and not a dory with oars as before) and with Amos's sailing knowledge, they secretly go on their way. Anne then remembers her promise to Aunt Martha not to go off again and is remorseful. However, they bring salty food and forget to bring water. So, they have to get some. Amos goes to lengths to find water, but upon finding it ashore somewhere, he goes to sleep, and the ship drifts away with the girls; they are captured by a British vessel (who happens to have her friends upon it who saved her earlier; the captain wants to sink their boat and be on their way, but things work out, and they take them back to Province Town, except for Amos, who must be having the time of his life, other than the fact that he doesn't know what is happening to his sister, Anne, and the ship; seriously, he loves fending for himself in the wilderness).

Upon arriving home, they find that Anne's father is there. Captain Enos had previously arranged for Anne's father to live with them in a room near hers when he came back.

Amos makes it home and boasts of his venture to his friends (he likes to have such experiences to tell stories about).

Anne agrees not to run away again, unless her father, Aunt Martha, and Uncle Enos go with her.

Anne is nine at the end of the book.

End of summary

Okay, so, I loved this book. It was awesome. I enjoyed the writing, the historic setting, the fishing culture, the adventure, and so on and so forth. At first I thought it was a lot like Anne of Green Gables, but it's quite a bit different (although in my opinion, just as good). If you've read the summary (including spoilers), you probably don't need me to warn you about much in the book that might concern you (other than that the word Gee is used once), but yeah, the characters don't always practice the highest level of caution, and punishments don't abound in the book (especially as things turn out well in the end). It's fairly gentle.

Now I've got 23 books left to go in the series! Anne is in the next one, too (but I don't think she's in any of the others that I have access to).

It should be known that the author's father was a sailmaker (and another relative was, too). She grew up in a Sullivan, Maine (which I believe is a harbor town). Her husband was also born in Maine. They lived in Boston and after his death at one point she lived in at least one other part of Massachusetts. Her parents were born in Maine, too, and her more distant ancestors were from that area. She is published in Daughters of the American Revolution. She probably knew a lot about early American history, and harbor towns.

Arielle Lipshaw of LibriVox does an excellent job narrating. She's one of my favorites.

It's a short book (about 40k words).

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Cute enough if it were a collection of vignettes, but too simplistic to make a satisfying historical novel, even one for children. I got a few Bobbsey Twins flashbacks reading this, with the way some random problem would be brought up and then solved almost immediately with no bearing on the plot: the mysterious wolf incident that was never resolved, the world's briefest kidnapping, and the missing cows, among others.
I really can't work up any anger or annoyance towards A Little Maid of Provincetown. It's such an innocuous and plodding story that the only emotions it stirred up were boredom and indifference. For family-friendly historical fiction, give me the Dear America series any day!

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good little historical story about Anne Newton, growing up in Provincetown, Massachusetts around the time of the English war with the colonies.
Her mother is dead, so she plays on the beach while her father is out in his fishing boat.
But when he doesn’t come back one day and has not been seen for a few days, the Stoddards, who have no children, take her in. She is well behaved, but also not afraid to be bold when needed.
Sometimes the boldness overtakes and causes her to forget obedience. What troubles come then that require her to be even more bold!

The reader for this audiobook by Librivox was excellent. She really made the story come alive. Please pass on my thanks!

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like pre American Girl doll stories. It's stories of historical fiction about young girls. The stories teach a lot about the time period and how little girls lived.

I really enjoyed Ann and her adventures. She was always up for anything. She went after the bullies, hid on a boat to head to Boston, carried secret messages, spoke to British soilders, and survived being stuck on an island.

I loved reading about her wooden doll, and learning to knit, making molasses candy, and wearing fancy clothes from other cities.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in love with this series. There are so many good things about it. I did feel there was a definite lack of sorrow in the beginning, but it didn't detract from the overall story told. We used this book as a history lesson to learn a little of the effects of the beginning of the Revolutionary war. Not quite as informative as I wanted but it has some merit.

[Kate Donnelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

These books are wonderful for young girls. They provide a good picture of life in America for a young maid. It also has adventure for the reader. Young women can learn, chores, food, language and toys children had during this time. They also include details about the Revolution and activities of spies.

[Eunice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable story. 5+

[Suey Nordberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sweet short story is one to remind us that simple acts of acceptance and kindness can win a heart that is broken and lost. This is another book I found on the app "Audiobooks."

[Ruthann Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute little story about a young girl during the revolution. Perfect for an 8 to 10 year old girl.

[Katie]

Read to Mom, Spring/Summer 2025, not sure of exact dates.