A review by emjay24
The Winthrop Woman by Anya Seton

5.0

I can't believe this was published in 1958! I read most of Anya Seton's books in highschool or college, not this one, but all that were at the library, and i didn't even realize they were so old. I loved this book because it's about the puritans and the colonization of New England. I actually had a distant relative on the mayflower, but this one isn't about the pilgrims. most of what we learned about the first settlers started after they came here to america but this one begins in england, and it taught me a lot of what i didn't learn in school. Seton spent a ton of effort researching this and getting things right, and these people were always writing back and forth, they wrote as much as people do now!! so there was a lot of original content. she'd include parts of the real letters right into the story, it's very accurate. But beyond the story itself, there is the whole thing of how modern a depiction the author gave back in the late 50's. she had a very modern point of view, which is pointed out in the forward that phillipa gregory wrote. seton was ahead of her time. this book just pulled me in and captured me. it drew me in, until near the end, when only then did it start to drag. i didn't like the main character so much anymore, although it was noted she changed so that makes sense. (it took me so long to finish because i was reading a couple other books at the same time, plus i went on vacation and had to leave this one at home). i'm so glad i didn't read this when i was younger, so i could experience it for the first time now. if you're at all interested in history, especially history of new england or the puritans, if you want to know what made them tick, or just learn about an interesting woman who really existed, pick up this book!!