I read this book years ago, and the story has stuck with me (mostly a 'would I have survived what she did?' feeling). It was so long ago that I thought a woman wrote the book. Clearly I was wrong! ( )

I read it as a teenager and remember more details about it than I do for some books I read just last year. I also remember that once she escapes and makes her way back toward home the story becomes weighed down with tedious descriptions of the landscape. Many many many pages had to be skipped (is he still talking about trees? damn. is he still talking about trees? damn.) in order to make it through to the end, where we finally got the payoff that the first part of the book promised. ( )

OK survival story of a young English-American wife who escapes from Indian captivity in 1700s colonial America along with an older Dutch woman. ( )

one of my favorite historical fiction novels. tells an awesome story and whatever fiction is splotched in is very believeable and alive.

GHETEL STOP IT! ACH! ( )

This is a true adventure book, full of moment after moment of trials and tribulations, yet also of joy and tenderness. Somewhat amazingly, the story is based on real people and real personal history. Set in French and Indian War early America, the narrative does a good job of revealing frontier life and characters. The bulk of the book is about an almost super human struggle. I was most appreciative of the author's ability to avoid superficiality in accessing the complexities of specific situations, both physical and personal. This is no B-movie special-effects shoot-em-up. The detail is there, and in a natural way, not like a professor stopping periodically to explain some interesting nuance. I would have loved to have read this book as a teenager, but I thoroughly enjoyed it as an old geezer. I certainly see myself reading more of this author's books. ( )