Literature / Toliver's Secret

Toliver's Secret is a 1976 Historical Fiction Middle Grade novel by Esther Wood Brady, with illustrations by Richard Cuffari.

In 1776, ten-year-old Ellen Toliver lives with her mother and grandfather in his barbershop in New York as The American Revolution rages on. When her grandfather, a spy for the revolutionaries, is injured and unable to undertake the trip to give an important message to his friend that will be sent on to General Washington, it falls onto Ellen to deliver it—inside a small silver snuffbox, baked within a loaf of bread—by going across New York Bay to Elizabethtown, New Jersey in disguise as a boy.

Tropes for Toliver's Secret include:

• Adjective Animal Alehouse: The Jolly Fox Tavern in Elizabethtown is the place Ellen has to go to in order to deliver her grandfather's message to the owner, Mr. Shannon.
• Adults Are Useless: No adults do that much to stop Dicey's bullying of Ellen. Ellen's mother tells her to simply go to another pump if Dicey bothers her, while Ellen's grandfather urges her to stand up for herself and call the bully's bluff. A woman in the line at the pump does try to help Ellen by telling her to ignore Dicey, and steps in to tell Dicey to leave her alone, but Dicey easily steals Ellen's bucket and throws it away to make Ellen run off after it.
• Affectionate Nickname: Ellen remembers that her older brother Ezra, who often teased her, called her "Ellie".
• All for Nothing: After everything she went through to deliver the message, Ellen thinks her journey ended up as this when she finds out from Mistress Shannon that Mr. Shannon, the tavern owner she was meant to give the bread to, is away on a trip to get ale. However, it turns out that he was the man Ellen encountered at the blacksmith shop she stopped at while walking to the tavern after running away from the Murdocks, and he shows up to receive Ellen's delivery.
• The American Revolution: The story takes place shortly after the British forces' successful invasion of New Jersey in the Battle of Fort Lee. Ellen's grandfather and his friends pass on intelligence to support Washington's revolutionaries, which they do by slipping secret messages through enemy lines undercover in their day jobs (barber/wigmaker, tavern owner, cobbler, etc.).
• Animal Motifs: Dicey's beady eyes are similar to a pig's, and her description likens her to a "bold scrawny public pig dressed up in a draping wool skirt".
• Anti-Villain: Although he's firmly a redcoat and thus part of the enemy to the revolutionaries, Higgins is nothing but kind to Ellen and gives her valuable advice about standing up to bullies that she takes to heart.
• Asshole Victim: Dicey, the resident bully who picks on Ellen and intimidates her away from getting water at the local pump, later ends up on the losing end of a snowball fight with the Brinkerhoff brothers, who push her into a tree and scrub her face in with snow. She runs away crying because of it, which makes Ellen feel a little sorry for her.
• Big Brother Bully:
  • Downplayed. Ellen remembers how her older brother Ezra often teased her (such as telling her she has no courage—which admittedly isn't far off the mark at the beginning—and once calling her a burnt-out candle because of her pale face and dark hair), but she still loves and misses him while he's away in the army.
  • Discussed by Higgins, who encourages Ellen to stand up to Dow by telling her that he had a brother who bullied him in his childhood until Higgins talked back to him, after which he backed off because he saw Higgins wasn't afraid of him anymore.
• Bitch Alert: Dicey is introduced dragging Arnie Brinkerhoff by the ear and yelling at him not to throw snowballs at her again, then noticing Ellen's presence in the line at the water pump and sneering that she told her not to come back last time.
• Boring Return Journey: Justified. After all the trouble Ellen went through on her journey to get the message to Mr. Shannon, Shannon makes sure to put her on his friend Grimsby's delivery boat the next morning to return her home safely without incident. Lampshaded by Mistress Shannon, who tells Ellen while making her breakfast that there are no more adventures for her today.
• Broomstick Quarterstaff: An old woman lends Ellen her broomstick to use as a weapon against the Brinkerhoff boys when she's chasing them down to get her bread back from them. She uses it to whack their legs, making them drop it so she can grab it back.
• The Bully: Dicey, the mean, hateful older girl who mockingly calls Ellen a "wooden doll" and constantly yells at and threatens her away from using the local water pump.
• Butt-Monkey: Poor Ellen doesn't have an easy time of it on what was supposed to be a simple trip across the bay to Elizabethtown to deliver a loaf of bread. Her cargo gets stolen by the Brinkerhoff boys in a public chase that attracts hungry beggars and a pig, leading her to hide from them in a burned down neighborhood. Because of this, she misses the oystermen's boats when she finally reaches the docks, and she's dragged onto a British soldiers' boat by Dow, a redcoat who wants the bread she's carrying. When the boat lands, she finds out she's not in Elizabethtown, but Perth Amboy, which is thirteen miles away, and she has to walk for two miles through the woods at night until a man named Murdock gives her a ride solely so she can help him carry his baskets. He causes her to drop the bread while crossing the river, forcing her to go after it in the freezing water, and she runs away from his house in panic when her disguise is threatened by his wife trying to get her out of her wet clothes so they can dry...but because she forgot to get the bread when escaping, said wife throws the bread to the family's wild boar, and Ellen has to struggle with said boar to get it to drop it. She then has to travel half a mile, on foot, just to find the Jolly Fox Tavern and finally deliver the message. Whew!
• Character Development: At the beginning, Ellen's too much of a Shrinking Violet to really stand up for herself. Though she tries to stand her ground against Dicey, the resident bully who always threatens her away from getting her daily water at the local pump, she easily caves when Dicey throws her bucket away and leaves for another pump as she always does. In the end, after going through her adventure as "Toliver", she's become much more confident and gets Dicey to back off by making it clear that she's not scared of her anymore.
• Cool Big Bro: Ezra was this to Ellen in the past, despite his teasing. Ellen recalls that he was always carefree and smiling, and that he once explained a map of Long Island, New York Bay, and the colonies to her so that she'd know where she was if she got lost.
• Cover Identity Anomaly: Ellen's disguise as Toliver mostly goes off without a hitch, with nobody she runs into (not even Dicey) suspecting she isn't a boy. This lasts until the end, when she curtsies before giving the bread to Mr. Shannon. His wife, Mistress Shannon, immediately points this out and causes Ellen to admit who she really is.
• Disappeared Dad: Ellen's father was killed in the Battle of Brooklyn Heights months prior, which led to Ellen and her mother traveling ten miles on foot from their village to go and live with her grandfather.
• Distant Epilogue: After Ellen returns home, the story skips ahead to one month later. Ellen's grandfather has his silver snuffbox returned by a courier with a message about the revolutionaries' victory in the Delaware crossing and Battle of Trenton, as well as news that Ezra survived and was promoted to a sergeant in Morristown. The snuffbox also has an anonymous present of a silver locket for Ellen. She never finds out who sent it, but it's implied that it was from Washington himself.
• Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: This is what blows Ellen's cover as a boy to the Shannons. Being raised with proper manners in the eighteenth century and all, Ellen is used to doing this, and she curtsies when she gives the message to Mr. Shannon. Mistress Shannon points it out by telling her that was the prettiest curtsy she'd ever seen for a "boy".
• Extremely Short Timespan: The entire plot takes place over one whole day, plus the next morning.
• Foreign Ruling Class: Because the Revolution is still ongoing, the British are still in control of the colonies and the redcoats are free to order around the colonists. Several British soldiers live upstairs in the barbershop Ellen's grandfather owns, and constantly order her and her mother to serve them tea and biscuits.
• Friendly Enemy: One of the redcoats in the boat that Ellen ends up in is a kindly man named Higgins, who's homesick for London and takes a liking to "Toliver" because "he" reminds him of his son Tom. He gives her advice about standing up to bullies and doing the right thing even when scared, which endears him to her. When she runs into him again in Perth Amboy, he gives her a coin for a stagecoach to Elizabethtown (not knowing that there isn't any available for her) before his commanding officer chases her off under the assumption that she's a beggar boy.
• The Ghost: Ezra, Ellen's older brother who joined Washington's army, is frequently mentioned and discussed, but never shows up in person. Ellen also occasionally thinks about other characters like her friend Lucinda and her cousin Annabelle, who don't appear, and George Washington is mentioned a few times.
• Green-Eyed Monster: A woman in the line at the pump suggests to Ellen that this is the reason Dicey bullies her; Ellen is pretty and looks well-cared for, while Dicey isn't. Ellen is mystified by this.
• Heroic Bystander: During the ruckus of Ellen chasing down the Brinkerhoffs for stealing her bread, an old woman helps Ellen by loaning her broomstick to her so that she can hit them with it to get it back. Once she has it again, the same woman helps her outrun them by showing her an escape route off of the streets.
• Hope Spot: After finding out that the redcoats' boat actually took her to Perth Amboy, which is thirteen miles from Elizabethtown, Ellen gets her hopes up when she's told that a stagecoach can take her to Elizabethtown if she has money (which she does). When she actually searches for a stagecoach, however, she finds out from an old man that only the British officers are allowed to use them—and when she resorts to offering payment to take her in his cart to Elizabethtown, he seems tempted, but refuses because it's too far north.
• Important Haircut: Ellen has her mother cut her long hair short so that she can pretend to be a boy on her journey to deliver the message. Said journey also makes Ellen braver and more confident, and gives her the courage to stand up for herself in the end after she's returned to her normal life.
• Jerkass: Dicey, an older girl who regularly bullies Ellen away from using the local water pump, and Dow, the aggressive, unpleasant redcoat who shanghaies Ellen onto the British soldiers' boat because he wants her bread and tries to steal it from her to eat it. He only backs off when Ellen lets him have the corncakes in her coat pockets that her mother gave her for a snack.
• Karma Houdini: Aaron and Arnie Brinkerhoff get off scot-free for stealing the bread from Ellen for kicks, chasing her around after she took it back, and jeopardizing her mission (in fairness, though, they had no way of knowing how important it actually was). Dicey similarly never faces real punishment for bullying Ellen.
• Kid Hero: Ellen is only ten years old, but is tasked with her grandfather's mission of delivering a message with information to his friend, which will then be passed on through three secret couriers to General Washington.
• Last-Name Basis: While disguised as a boy, Ellen goes by her surname, Toliver, as her alias. Her grandfather is also only referred to by his surname, Van Horn.
• Lean and Mean: Murdock isn't a villain by any means, being a revolutionary sympathizer who hates the redcoats, but he's pretty unpleasant to Ellen and only gives her a ride so he can use her for free labor to carry his baskets. He's also described as being so thin that his build is like a bundle of kindling sticks.
• Paper Tiger: When advising her to stand up to Dicey, Ellen's grandfather tells her that bullies are actually this, no matter how intimidating they are, and calling their bluff makes them go away. Higgins repeats the sentiment later when encouraging Ellen to stand up to Dow. They're both right in the end; when Dicey tries her usual routine with Ellen at the pump, Ellen calmly asserts herself and her right to use it, and all Dicey can do is claim that Ellen is "lucky" she's not ready for a fight and walk away.
• Perpetual Frowner: Higgins is described as "sad-faced", with a drooping mouth and woebegone eyes.
• Pet the Dog: Murdock notices that Ellen looks starved, due to her having given her corncakes to Dow earlier to stop him from eating her bread, and gives her some oatcakes from his coat during the ride to his farm. He's also willing to let her have dinner with him and his family (even if it's after she offers to pay him to take her to Elizabethtown).
• Plucky Girl: Ellen considers giving up and going back home a few times, especially at the beginning after the disastrous chase with the Brinkerhoffs, but she pulls through out of sheer determination to complete her grandfather's mission.
• Pretty Boy: Dow, not knowing that "Toliver" is actually a girl named Ellen, comments that "he" is almost as pretty as a girl. Ellen is naturally horrified and denies it, but after she gets off of the boat, Dow tells Higgins he still thinks "Toliver" is much too pretty for a boy.
• Proper Lady: Ellen's mother is raising her to become one, which she brings up when Ellen's grandfather is urging the girl not to be so meek around Dicey. She defends Ellen by claiming that Ellen's father wanted her to be a lady, and was pleased with her "quiet ways and her pretty manners". Ellen's grandfather responds by saying that Ellen can both be well-mannered and bold when she needs to be.
• The Quisling: Mistress Shannon is this while running the Jolly Fox Tavern with her husband, being friendly with the redcoats she serves and even wearing a British flag in her hair. In reality, of course, it's all an act to hide that she's as pro-revolutionary as her husband is.
• Shrinking Violet: Ellen is shy and soft-spoken, which lets her be easily intimidated by bullies like Dicey. She grows out of this after the trials she undergoes in delivering her grandfather's message make her much more confident and assertive.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Ellen's grandfather urges her to abide by this, saying she can be a well-mannered lady and stand strong against bullies like Dicey. She finally demonstrates this at the end when she asserts herself against Dicey and refuses to be intimidated by her again, making her back off.
• A Simple Plan: The plan is for Ellen to pay an oysterman or farmer at the docks to take her across the bay in his boat to Elizabethtown, where she can simply walk into the Jolly Fox Tavern and deliver the message in the bread to the owner, Mr. Shannon. Said plan is thrown off the rails when two boys steal Ellen's bread, setting off a series of mishaps for Ellen as she's forced to take a boat with redcoat soldiers, walk for two miles through the woods alone at night, hitch a ride with a stranger, and fight a wild boar to get the bread out of its mouth.
• Small Role, Big Impact:
  • Ellen's grandfather only appears twice, once at the beginning and once at the end, but the fall he takes on the ice that injures his leg is what starts the plot when he sends Ellen to deliver the bread with the message in his place.
  • Aaron and Arnie Brinkerhoff, two troublemaking boys who only appear in the beginning, change the entire trajectory of Ellen's mission by stealing the bread with her grandfather's message in it, forcing her to chase them down to get it back. By the time she retrieves it and gets to the docks to go across the bay, she's missed the oystermen's boats she was supposed to find and is shanghaied onto a boat with British soldiers.
• So Proud of You: Mr. Shannon is nothing short of impressed when he finds out what Ellen went through to get the message to him, telling her he and the couriers are all grateful for her efforts, and Mistress Shannon tells her after tucking her in that she's earned a good night's rest. When she gets home, her mother and grandfather both express great pride in her, though her mother makes sure to add that she hopes Ellen never has to do it again.
• Spy Speak: Ellen's grandfather instructs her to deliver the message to his friend, Mr. Shannon, by stating that she has a present for his birthday. She uses this as a cover story for why she's carrying around a loaf of bread, telling the British soldiers she travels with that it's a birthday gift for an old man.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: As part of her impromptu espionage mission, Ellen pretends to be a boy by wearing her older brother Ezra's hand-me-downs, having her hair cut short for a pigtail, and going by her surname. Ellen's mother, Abby, originally suggests to her father that she should do this herself to deliver his message for him, but Ellen's grandfather dismisses the notion because she'd fool "no one but an idiot". He believes Ellen is more convincing for the job because nobody would suspect a small boy with a loaf of bread.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Higgins and Dow disappear from the narrative after Ellen runs into them on their march in Perth Amboy, and there's no mention of what happened to them in the Battle of Trenton in the epilogue. Somewhat lampshaded by Ellen, who notes that she'll never see Higgins again after her mission because he's a redcoat.
• Would Hurt a Child: When Ellen defends the revolutionaries from the redcoats' mockery of them, one of the redcoats suggests throwing her overboard so that there's one less rebel they have to deal with. Higgins distracts them from the idea by starting a mass singing of marching songs to pass the time during the boat ride.
• You Remind Me of X: Higgins tells the disguised Ellen that she reminds him of his son, Tom, which is why he's friendly to her.