The Winthrop Woman: A Novel | Anya Seton | Not your average bodice-ripper...

The Winthrop Woman: A Novel | Anya Seton | THE PURITAN LEGACY IN AMERICA...

books:

The Winthrop Woman...

	The Winthrop Woman: A Novel Anya Seton Chicago Review Press, 2006 - 608 pages average customer review:based on 32 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Not your average bodice-ripper...

Someone gave me an old paperback copy of this book years ago, and my immediate reaction was to roll my eyes. It looked like a cheesy romance novel, the sort that feature Fabio on the cover. However, one day in a fit of boredom, I picked it up and started reading, and didn't put it down until I finished it in the wee hours of the morning. This is a fictionalized account of the life of Elizabeth Fones, who was a niece of John Winthrop (governor of the Mass. Bay Colony) and a bit of an embarrassment to the other, more respectable Winthrops. Elizabeth packed a lot of living into her rather short life -- tumultuous and often scandalous love affairs, widowhood, emigration to seventeenth-century New England, accusations of witchcraft, Indian attacks, abandonment, several marriages, births, deaths, you name it. Seton crafts some memorable turns of phrase, and Elizabeth is an engaging character. It really is a great book and I'm glad to see it back in print.

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THE PURITAN LEGACY IN AMERICA...

This is a dazzling work of historical fiction that I first read as a young adult. Now, over thirty years after first reading it, I find that time has not diminished the power and passion of this exquisitely written work of historical fiction. At the heart of this fine novel, is Elizabeth Fones, an Englishwoman who would marry her first cousin, Harry Winthrop, and would go on to lead a life of which few of us would dream.

As a member of the austerely Puritan Winthrop family, Elizabeth would chafe under its restrictive influences. When the family fortunes abated in England due to the religious beliefs of the family patriarch, John Winthrop, Elizabeth's uncle and father-in-law, the entire family sets off for the New World to become founding members of the Massachusetts Bay colony, a theocracy under which Elizabeth was to know much heartache.

A passionate and vibrant woman, Elizabeth would have a number of personal situations that would cause her to become notorious amongst the Puritan colonists. She would be both reviled and admired for her actions, which were singular for those times. This is an absorbing, page turner of a book that takes a look at sixteenth century England during the tumultuous time that preceded the civil war that would see an act of regicide and the rise of Puritan Oliver Cromwell. It also relates the turmoil that underlay the government of the nascent Massachusetts Bay colony with all its factionalism, restrictive practices, and bigotry.

The novel, set against a historical backdrop filled with well known personages of the time, both English and Dutch, lovingly chronicles and explores Elizabeth's passage in life as a member of the illustrious Winthrop family, her troubled marriages, her relationship with the Siwanot Indians, and the trials and tribulations that she underwent as a compassionate, independent woman in a time when to be such was to destine oneself to become a pariah within the larger community.

This is a historical novel that is epic in its telling, beautifully written, and one to be savored until the very last page is turned. Bravo!

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Anya Seton is once again superb!

Anya Seton has certainly done her homework in researching this story of Elizabeth Fones, a true historical figure in 17th-century Puritan New England. Despite marrying into the powerful Winthrop family of Boston, Elizabeth has difficulty conforming to expectations for a woman, nearly risking her very life in a time of suspicion, violence, religious zeal and political anxiety. Eventually, she is forced to flee from New England entirely with her tormented second husband, although this new life brings her little peace. Although her troubles are by no means over, with her third and final marriage Elizabeth finally has an opportunity to marry for love. Ms. Seton has an amazing way of bringing characters from the past to life. I highly recommend all of her works.

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Spellbinding account of an early New England colonist.

I found a copy of "The Winthrop Woman" in a box of old books my neighbor gave me -- at first glance, I dismissed it as a cheesy bodice-ripper. Then one day in a fit of boredom I cracked it open -- and was immediately transfixed. This is a fictionalized account of a real woman, Elizabeth Fones, niece of Mass. Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop, and a perpetual embarrassment to the Winthrop family. By virtue of circumstance and her own volatile nature, Elizabeth found herself a beautiful young widow with a child and embarked on a rather unfortunate second marriage, accusations of witchcraft, run-ins with Indians, and along the way bore seven children and finally found true love. She certainly experienced more in her forty-five years than most of us moderns will in ninety. This book is currently out of print, but well worth the effort to seek out a used copy.

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Could not put down.....

This is one book that kept me curled up on the sofa turning the pages until I could not keep my eyes open. I actually had this book for a while (my grandmother gave it to me after she read it) and it is a very old copyright with yellowed, musty pages and a missing front cover. I entertained the idea of just putting it on the shelf and forgetting about it, but I am glad I read the first page. It was then that I realized it was about a real puritan woman and her life. From then on I was hooked. I hated for the book to end. A wonderful story of loss, love and endurance. Just goes to show..."You can't judge a book by it's cover....or absence of one!"

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7

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