The Winthrop Woman

Elizabeth Fones grows up under the severe religious authority of her uncle John Winthrop and becomes part of the family migration to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Widowed soon after reaching New England, she must navigate remarriage, property, childbirth and the demands of a community that treats female independence as spiritual and social disorder.

Elizabeth’s friendship with Anne Hutchinson, sympathy for the Siwanoy people and repeated resistance to colonial authority place her at odds with the Winthrop establishment. Following her through Massachusetts, Connecticut and the founding community of Greenwich, the novel reconstructs the life of a documented settler who fought to control her household, affections and conscience in Puritan New England.