Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

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.