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A WOMAN OF AGENCY Mood Board
Project type
Photos and background
Date
27 April 2026
Location
London & Liverpool
A WOMAN OF AGENCY was inspired by wondering what the Great Powers of Europe were up to while the American Republic was tearing itself apart in its Civil War. Most nations had signed articles of neutrality that did not restrict supplying and harboring ships and representatives of the belligerent parties, and did not preclude a number of very active shadow policies.
In telling this story of European intrigues during America’s Civil War, I knew that I would have to set a Union observer in London, the crux of world power at the time. While my principals Viola, Thomas Lannan and Niall Tackett (and, representing the Irish Brotherhood, Howard Norton) are purely inventions, a great many fascinating historical persons offered themselves to this story. I have made every effort to fairly represent them here.
Abigail Brooks Adams was the wife of Charles Francis Adams and the daughter of insurance magnate Peter Brooks. She organized households in Boston, Washington and London, raising a family through a steady stream of physical and practical distress as the center of a fiercely intelligent and politically engaged family. Her daughter Mary and youngest son Brooks also appear in this story.
Charles Francis Adams served as Minister to the Court of St. James's throughout and immediately following the American Civil War.
James & half-brother Irvine Bulloch - James was the South's principal agent in Europe.
Countess Marie-Anne Colonna-Walewski was a close friend of Empress Eugènie and Emperor Napoleon III of France.
Henry Adams, historian and essayist, was the third son of Charles Francis and Abigail Brooks Adams.
Nautilus House was the Liverpool headquarters of Fraser Trenholm & Co., merchant banker to the Confederacy.
Liverpool Docks – Liverpool was a greater port than London throughout most of the 19th Century.
98 Portland Place, Regent’s Park Crescent, London, was the residence of the American Minister to the Court of St. James’s.
Charles Prioleau was managing director of the Liverpool office of the South's principal merchant banker Fraser Trenholm & Co.
Charles Prioleau was managing director of the Liverpool office of the South's principal merchant banker Fraser Trenholm & Co.
98 Portland Place, Regent’s Park Crescent, London, was the residence of the American Minister to the Court of St. James’s.
Liverpool Docks (here shown in the late 19th Century) – Liverpool was a greater port than London throughout most of the 19th Century.
Nautilus House was the Liverpool headquarters of Fraser Trenholm & Co., merchant banker to the Confederacy