New Books Network Maren Halvorsen, "The Bailiff’s Wife" (Cuidono Press, 2025)
Nov 12, 2025
Maren Halvorsen, a historian and debut novelist, delves into the rich complexities of medieval women's lives in her new novel, The Bailiff’s Wife. She shares the fascinating story of Sarah Kidd, a determined widow who transforms into an unstoppable seeker of justice against the backdrop of political upheaval during the English Civil War. Halvorsen discusses the unique dynamics of the insular village of Chalfont St. James and the moral struggles of her characters, highlighting how tensions from the Restoration influence their fates.
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Widow's Loud Quest For Justice
- Sarah Kidd arrives loudly in the village demanding her missing husband's body be exhumed and justice delivered.
- Maren Halvorsen based this episode on a 17th-century broadsheet about a determined widow searching for her husband.
Broadsheet As Creative Seed
- Halvorsen found a mid-17th-century broadsheet and used it as the seed for her novel rather than seeking full court verification.
- She treated the broadsheet as a vivid primary source that inspired fictional expansion rather than strict documentary truth.
Discovery During Dissertation Research
- Halvorsen recounts finding the broadsheet with her sister while researching her dissertation on Isaac Pennington the Younger.
- The broadsheet told of a working-class widow tracking her missing bailiff husband and a discovered skeleton in a village.
