cover image Massachusetts

Massachusetts

Nancy Zaroulis, N. L. Zaroulis, Nancy Zavroulis. Fawcett Books, $19.95 (709pp) ISBN 978-0-449-90586-9

This thoroughly entertaining, sprawling saga begins at Plymouth Rock with the landing of Mayflower passenger Bartholomew Revell, who rises from apprentice to rich merchant and ship owner, and follows his descendants as they profit from trade in molasses and slaves and found a dynasty that will be Boston aristocracy. The men may fight the wars and make the fortunes, but it is the Revell women who form the heart of the book and whose portraits are most vividly drawn: indomitable Catherine, who survives as an Indian captive; Rebecca, sacrificed on the gallows to the hysteria of the witch hunts; and Abigail, who must bear the indignity of British soldiers quartered in her home while her husband and the other brave colonists fight at Lexington. So they parade through the pages, abolitionists and environmentalists, lovers and mothers, facing everything from the influx of upstart Irish to fallout from the Sacco and Vanzetti case, playing their largely unheralded roles in a nation's maturation. Using well-researched background material that takes Bay State history through the 1960s, Zaroulis ( The Last Waltz ) weaves a fictional tapestry rich with details of real and imaginary characters. (Apr.)