Jean C. O’Connor
Based on primary source research, including the records of Congress, letters, and documents, the historical fiction novel Congress’s Cryptographer: A Novel of James Lovell and the American Revolution, by Jean C. O’Connor, tells of James Lovell’s five years in Congress during the American Revolution. Lovell is our first Foreign Affairs Secretary, writing to Adams, Franklin, and other diplomats. He knows French, so greets the many French officers who arrive to offer their services, including Lafayette. He makes a good friend of Abigail Adams, writing to her during her husband John Adams’s long absences. Talented with cipher and cryptography, he instructs diplomats in the use of his cipher and uses it to send sensitive information. He deciphers coded British letters for the benefit of Generals Washington and Greene. Congress’s Cryptographer features images of Lovell’s writing with cipher from the Library of Congress, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the American Philosophical Society. Images of James Lovell’s cipher included in the novel offer a glimpse into the world of the American Revolution, where a spy, a code, or a secret could change everything. Congress’s Cryptographer follows Jean’s first historical fiction novel, The Remarkable Cause: A Novel of James Lovell and the Crucible of the Revolution (Knox Press, 2021), also based on primary source research. Before the Revolution became a fact, James Lovell was a teacher at the Boston Latin School. Following the outbreak of hostilities he was imprisoned by the British for spying and spent eighteen grueling months in prison in Boston and Halifax before being released and joining Congress. James Lovell is honored in the 2023 inductees to the Cryptologic Hall of Honor at the National Security Agency for his work deciphering British code and for promoting cipher.
