Sometimes all I want to read is froth. I need to clear my brain and settle down with a book that won’t cause me to think, and I usually turn to fiction based upon history to do that.

I thought I had one of those when I picked up “The Widow’s War” by Sally Gunning. Set in the early spring of 1761 on Cape Cod, “The Widow’s War” is about a woman, Lyddie Berry, whose whaler husband dies at sea, and she is suddenly adrift within her own society.

As a widow, Lyddie has few rights. Under her husband’s will, she owns one-third of their house and a few of its furnishings; all else goes to her son-in-law, Nathan Clarke. In addition Lyddie is to live under Clarke’s roof, supposedly protected, fed and kept by him for the rest of her days.

All Clarke is interested in, though, is selling the house and making sure Lyddie is as small an economic burden as possible in his own house. He is sure he can do this as he has the law on his side.

Lyddie confounds all of his plans by refusing to sign away her third, exasperating all of the men in the room who expected her to do their bidding. She then moves out and sets up a domicile in her third of her house, wondering how she will live with no way to earn money or grow crops so early in the season.

It was at this stage in the book that I realized I was no longer reading “froth.” Sally Gunning, the author, had gone beyond the normal procedure in writing historical fiction. Yes, she had done her research. We have learned all about how women of the time spin, garden and are treated under the law.

The hunting of blackfish whales in 1761 is described accurately. Gunning knows that lobsters in that time were only fit for slaves and Indians. Sometimes we have too much information about those times in the book, but this is subsumed under our interest in Lyddie and her travails.

The basic question must be answered. How does a woman survive in a society hostile to a woman making her own decisions?

Lyddie finds her own way, but she is in danger of being a modern woman. That is the danger for an author writing historical fiction. Are the events and characters realistic for the times they are in?

Gunning skirts that problem neatly by learning that in 1761 one James Otis, a lawyer in Massachusetts, had challenged the Trade Acts for the Commonwealth, arguing for fundamental liberties and natural rights of man (and woman). John Adams later recognized Otis’ actions, by saying, “There and then the child Independence was born.”

Lyddie Berry and her book, The Widow’s War” come directly from this idea. Lyddie gains her liberty, though it is not easy. The law can be used by a woman who is bright and brave enough to do so. Sally Gunning shows how a widow might win her war for freedom within the context of the times.

The same question came up in another work of recently written historical fiction. “The Illuminator,” written by Brenda Vantrease, is set in England in the 14th century. Lady Kathryn, mistress of Blackingham Manor, is also a widow, and she is struggling to pay the King’s taxes and the Church’s tithes.

Kathryn has to tiptoe between both authorities to protect her sons’ inheritance, and to do so, at the behest of the powerful Abbot of nearby Bronholm, she agrees to take in an illustrator, one who illuminates the pages of the Scriptures.

This is a time before Gutenberg, before Luther, before Henry VIII. The illuminator, one Finn is not only making exquisite paintings on manuscript Bibles for the Abbot, he is also decorating in secret the first Bible in English, written by John Wycliffe, a don in Oxford.

Wycliffe’s efforts will eventually end up as the basis for the King James Bible, 200 plus years in the future. In this century he is considered a heretic and only lives due to the protection of the Duke of Lancaster. Wycliffe could be called the first Protestant long before Luther.

The author has filled out her book with historical events as Lady Kathryn and Finn live during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, which was put down with great slaughter by Bishop Henry Despenser, whom Finn is painting for. Dame Julian of Norwich, who gives ease and comfort to Lady Kathryn at the end, was the first woman to write in English.

All of this is backdrop to the story of Lady Kathryn and Finn. They go from wary inhabitants of the same house to lovers. They both try to protect their children from harm in perilous times. They succeed only partially.

Ralph Mohr taught English and Latin at Marshfield High School for 31 years. He welcomes comments and suggestions regarding the column at rmohr1565@charter.net.