Reviewer: Michelle
It was hard for me to not completely enthrall myself with this novel. What really isn’t to love about a story of a woman who goes from an obedient Puritan into a strong willed independent member of society? Amy Belding Brown does a fantastic job with this tale, it is clear she spent a generous amount of time researching Mary Rowlandson and it shows.
In the year 1676, a Puritan mother of four witnesses a horrific massacre by Native Americans upon her town. The author doesn’t leave much to the imagination and Mary is forced to watch the death of some of her family. She is then taken as a slave and given to a Native American queen, unable to watch over her children. Starving and near death, she acts as the Natives do in order to survive, in hopes that one day she will be able to return to her husband and children. She is shown extreme generosity by one Native American in particular, James, who is a Christian himself. The two form a loving bond and are taken from one another when Mary is finally released on ransom.
The story continues while Mary deals with the town’s suspicions that she is now tainted and will never be the same. However, Mary’s beliefs are much different than her husband’s. She must now adjust to life as before, but will she ever be the same?
I could not stop reading this. The beginning is heartbreaking and real. I am not a mother myself, but I could feel how much Mary loved her children and how heartbreaking it was for her to be separated from them. I loved how much Mary changed after she returned home. She became a different woman. She began standing up for her husband in what she believed in. The ending was disappointing, I feel as if it ends abruptly without the reader feeling fulfilled. However, it is plainly obvious that the author spent endless hours making sure Mary’s story was perfectly written.
