Daynard ’79 Writes First Novel, Set During the American Revolution

Jodi Daynard ’79 recently published her first novel, The Midwife’s Revolt (Opossum Press), a work of historical fiction set during the founding days of America. The novel centers on midwife Lizzie Boylston from her grieving days of widowhood after Bunker Hill, to her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams, and finally to her dangerous work as a spy for the Cause. Daynard takes the reader into the real lives of colonial women patriots and explores human connections in a violent time.

According to Publishers Weekly, the book is “a charming, unexpected, and decidedly different take on the Revolutionary War.”

Daynard also is the author of The Place Within: Portraits of the American Landscape by 20 Contemporary Writers. Her essays have been nominated for several prizes and mentioned in Best American Essays. She has taught writing at Harvard University, M.I.T., and in the MFA program at Emerson College, and served for seven years as fiction editor at Boston Review.

Author website

Read an excerpt from The Midwife’s Revolt