History with Hulse 

Like most people, Jane Hulse stopped and paused when she came across the term “Spanktown” in researching her latest novel. The journalist turned novelist was working on her third installment of the historical fiction series that follows Sarah Barrett in revolutionary America when she learned about an incident involving Quakers in 1777. 

Inspired by Norman E. Donoghue II’s Prisoners of Congress and the real life incident in which 17 Quakers were removed from their homes in Philadelphia during war-torn America, Spanktown Papers covers an America not so dissimilar to today; the men, who were never charged with any crime, were imprisoned for nearly a year simply due to their potential threat. Considered the first political prisoners of our time, the incident sparked something in Hulse, who has gravitated toward the American Revolution since childhood. 

Her interpretation of the saga follows a journalist as she tries to solve a murder, free wrongly imprisoned men, and overcome obstacles as an ambitious female working in a newsroom. Pulling from extensive research, including the diary of one of the Quaker wives, Elizabeth Drinker, the story of Barrett and her friends in Philadelphia comes to life in the final novel of Hulse’s American Revolution series.     

Spanktown Papers succeeds two other novels from publisher Open Books: Outcasts of Essex and Prisoner of Wallabout Bay. All three follow Sarah Barrett, an ambitious young woman who runs away from a family career in midwifery and investigates a prisoner ship as she leans into her impulse to write for a living. In the newest, she leaves home to work in Philadelphia at the Sentinel. Hulse describes the main character as her alter ego, depicting the courageous, outspoken and brave character as someone who is “completely different” than herself.

History would say otherwise. Hulse was one of nine newsroom employees working at the Santa Barbara News-Press who walked out in 2006 after claiming owner Wendy P. McCaw was interfering with editorial judgement. That bravery earned her and her colleagues a University of Oregon’s Ancil Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism, which awarded journalists who report with “integrity despite personal, political, or economic pressure” (the award was discontinued in 2022). She’s worked in Colorado and California for decades, covering breaking news and criminal trials over the years. She was even responsible for covering the 1981 shooting of President Reagan by John Hinckley Jr. for Denver’s Rocky Mountain News.

In her years since the newsroom, she’s dedicated her writing to weaving characters into her work that aren’t normally given a space in America’s history. In Spanktown Papers, there’s Tess, a literate former slave in love with her white employer, and Emma, Sarah’s friend who’d rather travel the world than raise children. Even more astonishing is Hulse’s portrayal of Rachel Porter, a fictionalized character depicting the real Quaker women who traveled through war torn Philadelphia to Valley Forge, set on meeting with General Washington directly in hopes of freeing their husbands. 

“I think it’s really important to have a very strong role model for women, especially today, given the state of things politically,” says Hulse. “It’s important to give young women inspiration and courage to do things and get the world right.”

Hulse was raised in a historic 1790 New Hampshire home that served as the town’s first post office, and like her father, she has been fascinated by the American Revolution for as long as she can remember. So, when she pivoted from the newsroom to the living room (one of her favorite places to write), she immediately gravitated toward the era she was familiar with. 

These days, the Ventura-based writer doesn’t venture too far into the courtroom for her work. An avid runner and puzzler, she may get as far as the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf for a little adventure (the site where all three of her books were penned), but her days of newsroom shenanigans are behind her. 

Spanktown Papers is out now. Hulse will be speaking and signing books at Tecolote Book Shop (1470 East Valley Rd., Montecito) on Saturday, August 1, at 3 p.m. Books are currently available to purchase online and at local bookstores.