Overview
Based on true events, THE MOURNING WARS is a gripping, powerful, and utterly memorable historical novel. In 1704, Mohawk Indians attacked the frontier village of Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 50 and kidnapping 112 more, including John Williams, a Puritan minister and prize hostage, and his children.
This is Eunice’s remarkable story, fictionalized but based on meticulous research, about a seven-year-old girl's separation from her family, harrowing march to Canada, gradual acceptance of her new Native American life, and ultimate decision at 16 to marry an Indian and reject her stern father's pleadings to return to the fold.
Synopsis
Based on true events, THE MOURNING WARS is a gripping, powerful, and utterly memorable historical novel. In 1704, Mohawk Indians attacked the frontier village of Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 50 and kidnapping 112 more, including John Williams, a Puritan minister and prize hostage, and his children.
This is Eunice’s remarkable story, fictionalized but based on meticulous research, about a seven-year-old girl's separation from her family, harrowing march to Canada, gradual acceptance of her new Native American life, and ultimate decision at 16 to marry an Indian and reject her stern father's pleadings to return to the fold.
Publishers Weekly
In a story inspired by the real-life abduction of Eunice Williams in 1704, after Eunice and her Puritan family are taken captive by the Canienga tribe, she is not mistreated, but lovingly raised by a Native American family. As she grows older, Eunice--now called A'onote--embraces the ways of the Canienga people, participating in sacred dances and studying to be a healer. Newcomer Steinmetz's scrupulous research is apparent in her detailed account of Canienga customs as well as "Queen Anne's War," which pitted natives and the French against the English. Because A'onote is the daughter of a reverend, her adoptive mother worries about "English spies," and A'onote meets with visitors, including her English father, who want her to return to her former life. Her complicated identity often overwhelms her, and Steinmetz sensitively conveys her fear that even glimpsing the reverend again will mean that "she will never be at home again in any place." This is a richly poetic, thoughtful book that offers an intimately imagined perspective on compelling historical events. Ages 12 up. (Aug.)
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
In a story inspired by the real-life abduction of Eunice Williams in 1704, after Eunice and her Puritan family are taken captive by the Canienga tribe, she is not mistreated, but lovingly raised by a Native American family. As she grows older, Eunice--now called A'onote--embraces the ways of the Canienga people, participating in sacred dances and studying to be a healer. Newcomer Steinmetz's scrupulous research is apparent in her detailed account of Canienga customs as well as "Queen Anne's War," which pitted natives and the French against the English. Because A'onote is the daughter of a reverend, her adoptive mother worries about "English spies," and A'onote meets with visitors, including her English father, who want her to return to her former life. Her complicated identity often overwhelms her, and Steinmetz sensitively conveys her fear that even glimpsing the reverend again will mean that "she will never be at home again in any place." This is a richly poetic, thoughtful book that offers an intimately imagined perspective on compelling historical events. Ages 12–up. (Aug.)Children's Literature -
Seven-year-old Eunice Williams' life is changed forever the October day in 1703 when her Puritan village is raided by the Maqua, also known as the Mohawks. With her father, the Reverend Williams, she is marched north along with her mother and siblings. Yet she is separated from her family and carried off by a gentle man she comes to know as Atironta. After days of trekking into the Canadian village, she is taken to Atironta's home where she is expected to live as the replacement for his daughter who had died. Thus begins Eunice's new life as A'onote. She desperately misses her family, but as the years pass, she realizes she is becoming more Maqua than Puritan. While the English and Dutch seem to want to trade for her, her father seems to have deserted her. This riveting coming-of-age story vividly presents the conflicts she feels as she learns more about herself and her people. Gradually she begins to appreciate the Maqua way of giving power to women, unlike her Puritan village. Set during the time of the wars between the French and English, this intriguing story is a wonderful accompaniment for those studying this time period in their history class. Reviewer: Shirley NelsonVOYA -
The Mourning Wars tells the true story of seven-year-old Eunice Williams's abduction from the Puritan community of Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1704 by Canienga (aka Mohawk) Indians. The Canienga took Eunice to a settlement near Montreal, where she was adopted by respected members of the tribe whose own young daughter had died. Allied to the French, with a Catholic priest living in their midst, the Canienga allowed Eunice to see her father but did not release her back to her family, most of whom obtained their freedom during the decade following the raid on Deerfield. Eunice herself was gradually enculturated into the tribe and chose to remain with them, marrying a Canienga man and having only limited contact with the Williams family throughout her life. First-time author Steinmetz does a fine job of contrasting life in the Puritan and Canienga settlements through young Eunice's eyes. Eunice's subtle transformation into A'onote is superbly portrayed, and the author's note sheds more light on the importance hostages played in the political machinations among the English, French, and Native Americans. Although perhaps not a first pick for pleasure reading for any but die-hard historical fiction buffs, The Mourning Wars would make a terrific complement to high school American history and social studies courses. Reviewer: Leah SparksSchool Library Journal
Gr 7 Up—Eunice's life in Colonial America changes forever when she awakens one morning to hear her mother say she must dress quickly. The 17-year-old's town of Deerfield, MA, is under attack. Some of her family members are killed, including her mother, and others are taken captive by the Maqua, a Native people whom she has been taught to fear. Living among her kidnappers, Eunice, now called A'onote, learns why her life has been spared. She was taken during a Mourning War, a war to reclaim those lost to disease or fighting, to replace the daughter of the man who captured her. A'onote's adjustment to life with the Maqua, or Canienga as they call themselves, is slow for her and may be for readers. The teen struggles with her allegiances as they relate to family, religion, and culture, and tensions are palpable. She is well loved in her new community but wonders why her father, who has remarried, has not come for her. Steinmetz weaves Native language and culture with details about the Jesuits who lived with the Canienga and about the natural environment into the narrative. Her meticulous efforts in re-creating Eunice's life as accurately as possible at times weigh the story down, but her descriptions are often beautifully composed. An author's note and bibliography provide more information about the real woman on whom this story is based.—Hilary Writt, Sullivan University, Lexington, KYKirkus Reviews
Eunice Williams lives the strictly controlled life of a seven-year-old Puritan child in 1704 Deerfield, in colonial Massachusetts. In a raid by the Canienga (or Macqua, or Mohawk), her entire community is kidnapped and dispersed, and Eunice eventually finds herself in a new culture, with a new family. Following her over the course of years, readers experience her acculturation with her new family, slowly learn along with her of the history and politics among the English, French and the Haudenosaunee League and witness Eunice's transformation into a teenager who makes an ultimate choice to identify herself and thereby choose a people. First-time novelist Steinmetz indicates in her author's note that this is a work of fiction based on actual events and that her depiction of the Canienga culture "can be only approximate" (the sources she identifies are observations from outside of the culture, and she acknowledges their limitations). As such, her leisurely paced narrative with its poetic attention to detail and insight into character may serve interested readers with a more contemporary and respectful perspective than older "Indian Captive" stories. (Historical fiction. 11-14)