From Publishers Weekly
In this novel based on Susanna Hutchinson's true-life abduction in 1643, Kirkpatrick (Keeping the Good Light) presents a searing portrait of divided loyalties. Susanna fears trouble follows her as it did her mother, the infamous Anne Hutchinson, whom the Puritans persecuted for preaching lay sermons about her visions from God. After the Hutchinsons seek religious freedom in the Long Island wilderness, Lenape warriors massacre the family, sparing only nine-year-old Susanna. Initially, this sole survivor rages against her captors and resists the customs she considers cruel and savage. As Susanna gradually develops an understanding of their ways, she struggles to reconcile her growing affection for her adopted Lenape family with her love for the family they murdered. When the tribe's medicine woman Som-kay begins teaching her, Susanna also fights her own emerging visionary powers, which she fears will bring on pain and suffering like her mother's. Susanna finally does use her psychic gifts, and begins to understand what makes each person and culture unique. Kirkpatrick deftly weaves the Lenape language, rituals and values into the gripping plight of a girl caught in a cycle of violence between native and European peoples. The setting may be historical, but the author features a heroine grappling with universal issues. Through Susanna's complex coming-of-age, Kirkpatrick transforms tragedy into redemption and offers a message of peace and hope. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up-In this rich and engrossing fictional account of actual events, nine-year-old Susanna is captured by the Lenape after witnessing the massacre of her family and spends the next four years as a member of the tribe. Initially not wanting to "become an Indian," she holds the murder of her family close to her heart, attempts escape, and resists learning the Lenape language. She gains strength from her memories of her famous mother, Anne Hutchinson, the strong-willed and outspoken 17th-century heretic. Gradually, Susanna learns to communicate and partially accepts her new identity as Mee-pahk ("Pretty Leaf"). She finds a strength similar to her mother's in the wise medicine woman, Som-kway, and enjoys the friendship of her sister, Sa-kat. Susanna comes to recognize the inherent humanity of her new family, despite radical cultural differences, and discovers one day, somewhat to her dismay, that she "could no longer hate" them. When arrangements are made to trade her back to her white family, she does not wish to leave the Place of Stringing Beads. Susanna is a heroine after her mother's blood: strong and visionary. Readers will avidly follow her physical and spiritual development as she moves through incomprehension and anguish to self-discovery and an appreciation of Lenape life. The people and culture are warmly realized with a wealth of careful detail and sensitivity that make the characters and sense of place memorable. Top-notch historical fiction.
Jennifer A. Fakolt, Denver Public LibraryCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
