A thoroughly captivating story of late Gilded Age gender norms and deeply rooted social conventions. DeWolfe skillfully weaves the stories of Madeleine Pollard and Jane Tucker while also introducing readers to a wider cast of fascinating female characters, each of whom demonstrate their own agency while creatively navigating a world designed by men. Readers will come away with a better understanding of the era's power dynamics--and of human nature.

--Melanie Beals Goan, author of A Simple Justice: Kentucky Women Fight for the Vote

This is a stirring tale of secrecy, betrayal, ambition, jilted love, and the many barriers--political, financial, legal--faced by young women in nineteenth-century America. In Alias Agnes, Elizabeth DeWolfe has deftly wrapped fascinating social history around a page-turning courtroom drama.

--Matthew Goodman, New York Times bestselling author of Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland's History-Making Race Around the World

In Alias Agnes, Elizabeth DeWolfe delves into a remarkable Gilded Age trial, uncovering little-known sources and never-before-published secrets from hidden archives. Through the riveting tale of a jilted lover and the spy dispatched to entrap her, DeWolfe unveils two narratives of justice and betrayal surrounding women who were striving to break free from the constraints of their time. This book not only sheds light on a dramatic episode in American legal history, but also offers profound insights into the resilience and courage of women fighting for their rights as the modern era dawned.

--Amy Stewart, New York Times-bestselling author of Girl Waits with Gun

I tore right through this courtroom drama of two ambitious women trying to forge a path through the restrictions placed on their lives in 1890s America. Letters, trial transcripts, newspaper coverage, all provide details and insight, making for gripping narrative nonfiction.

--Kim Todd, award-winning author of Sensational: The Hidden History of America's "Girl Stunt Reporters"

From hints and scraps, Elizabeth DeWolfe has masterfully reconstructed the story of a woman living a life that few people at the time expected or knew women could do. This is a thrilling and exciting tale of two women, one a wronged mistress and the other a spy, carefully researched and beautifully told. Agnes's story is one I won't soon forget.

--Erika Janik, author of Pistols and Petticoats: 175 Years of Lady Detectives in Fact and Fiction

DeWolfe's crisp writing takes readers by the hand and guides them through situations that, given pseudonyms and lots of little lies, could be confusing were [Alias Agnes] narrated by a less capable author. Also, to accurately report a trial requires sedulous attention to details, lest the reader lose track of what happened. DeWolfe manages this task. . . . [and] lights up the culture of the time.

--Hippocampus Magazine

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky

Pub date: 2025-04-29

Length: 368 pages