The Mourning Wars » (First Edition)

KAREN STEINMETZ lives in Grandview, New York. She now makes her authorial debut.

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.)