Historical non-fiction, immersing the reader in the world of lower Manhattan in the post-revolution period around 1790. New York just has about 25,000 residents. Sweet reconstructs the social world on a young woman Lanah Sawyer who is raped by a young landed gentleman Henry Bedlow. The rape trial was followed closely, and written up in summary form by a young lawyer, and commented on extensively by the press. Alexander Hamilton was one of the lawyers for the defendant. Many of Bedlow’s family (he was related to the Rutgers) left lots of records, too. And the “bawdy house” of Mother Carey, where Bedlow performed the act, was well-known. So in The Sewing Girl’s Tale, John Wood Sweet is able to give a compelling account. It makes me want to walk through lower Manhattan, with a new eye and appreciation for the early history of the place, which was so central to the early Republic.