Trouble's Daughter

In this novel based on Susanna Hutchinson's true-life abduction in 1643, Kirkpatrick (Keeping the Good Light) presents a searing portrait of divided loyalties. Susanna fears trouble follows her as it did her mother, the infamous Anne Hutchinson, whom the Puritans persecuted for preaching lay sermons about her visions from God. After the Hutchinsons seek religious freedom in the Long Island wilderness, Lenape warriors massacre the family, sparing only nine-year-old Susanna. Initially, this sole survivor rages against her captors and resists the customs she considers cruel and savage. As Susanna gradually develops an understanding of their ways, she struggles to reconcile her growing affection for her adopted Lenape family with her love for the family they murdered. When the tribe's medicine woman Som-kay begins teaching her, Susanna also fights her own emerging visionary powers, which she fears will bring on pain and suffering like her mother's. Susanna finally does use her psychic gifts, and begins to understand what makes each person and culture unique. Kirkpatrick deftly weaves the Lenape language, rituals and values into the gripping plight of a girl caught in a cycle of violence between native and European peoples. The setting may be historical, but the author features a heroine grappling with universal issues. Through Susanna's complex coming-of-age, Kirkpatrick transforms tragedy into redemption and offers a message of peace and hope. Ages 10-14. (Sept.)