AN UNCLEAN ACT

Burgess uses his family's history in 17th-century Massachusetts as the basis for his first novel, a well-researched tale of love and faith in Puritan times. Young Thomas Burge and his family cross the Atlantic to establish themselves in New England, where hard work, frequent deaths and devotion to God are standard. With impressive historical detail, Burgess evokes Thomas making a home on Cape Cod, serving in a militia against Native American tribes and finally marrying Elizabeth Bassett in an awkward, loveless union arranged by their parents. The appearance of a charismatic Quaker preacher, Mary Dyer, galvanizes the town into two opposing camps: those attracted to Quakerism's simplified worship and those convinced that only the firm hand of a strong church can steer colony life. It is within the more tolerant Quaker atmosphere that Thomas feels the freedom to "marry" Lydia Gaunt in a home ceremony, an act that gains the attention of authorities, leading to the colony's first recorded divorce trial (and punishments as brutal as any criminal might receive). Though Thomas serves as main narrator for this tale, Burgess allows Elizabeth and Lydia the occasional chapter—a stratagem he might have employed even more often, since it lends an important female perspective to an overwhelmingly male-oriented narrative. Though he sometimes resorts to stock villains, such as a sadistic sheriff and an intolerant Puritan minister, this novel will help shake the dust from Puritan history books. (June)

Forecast:Permanent's attempt to foreground the theme of religious fundamentalism (and thereby draw parallels between the Puritans' intolerance and the Taliban's fanaticism) probably won't do much for sales. This is a quiet book best aimed at readers fond of colonial history and intrigued by early American belief systems.