Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary and Analysis

"The Unexpected Mrs. Stowe" takes up the life and writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe, cheerful, shy, playful, and - contrary to her self-description - not at all plain. What is unexpected about her is she writes the abolitionist manifesto that starts the Civil War. "Hattie" is the seventh of nine children born to Lyman Beecher, a powerful, assertive, zestful preacher of hell and brimstone that leaves Hattie cold. She loves life away from the parsonage and dreams of Lord Byron. In 1832, the Beechers move to Cincinnati, where Hattie at 21 befriends the beautiful bride of a fat, forgetful, and fussy biblical scholar, linguist, and teacher, Calvin Ellis Stowe. Eliza dies and Hattie becomes Mrs. Stowe in 1836. She bears twins and then five more babies at regular intervals, and to improve her health, regularly escapes to call on relatives. When she...