Jane Franklin was Benjamin Franklin's younger sister, and this book describes her life, as much as is known from the correspondence that survived. Most of her writings were lost, but a few of her letters, and a small book listing birth and death dates of her children (her "Book of Ages"), remain. Many of the letters Benjamin wrote to her in reply survive, so Lepore has read between the lines about what Jane might have written to her brother.
I found this book a little bit frustrating, since it seems to focus so much on Benjamin and not Jane. Lepore admits that was one of her main worries when writing the book: that it would become about Benjamin, not Jane. In spite of this weakness, it illuminates the experience of an ordinary woman during the time of the American Revolution, those of her words that survived.
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