Alice Turner Curtis wrote twenty-four of the Little Maid books, each detailing the adventures of a young patriot girl during the time of the American Revolution. A Little Maid of Narragansett Bay is the third of this series, and contains the story of Penelope Balfour, a young farm girl in Rhode Island, whose father is off fighting with the American regiment under Colonel William Barton.

"Smiling Penny," as her older brother Ted sometimes calls her, longs to do something to help the American cause, and she soon has her opportunity... In the meantime, she and young Florence Dickinson, the daughter of wealthy Tories, quarrel and make up; and Penny becomes good friends with Mrs. Godfrey, the minister's wife.

This is a very sedate story: set during a very bloody period of history, it contains no fighting, and the conflicts (such as the resentment against the Tory family, the Dickinsons) seem too easily resolved. Of course, this was published in 1915, and is really more of a sentimental girls' novel that just happens to be set during a war, than it is a piece of realistic historical fiction. Perhaps it was thought that the latter would not be suitable for young girls? However that may be, this was an enjoyable, lighthearted read, although the stereotypical speech of some of the black ("darky") servants was disturbing. ( )